Where Do Volcanoes Occur?

Where Do Volcanoes Occur?

Where Do Volcanoes Occur?
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	high interest, readability grades 6 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	5.88

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		subduction, tectonic, rift, magma, zone, region, lava, material, volcanic, mantle, volcano, result, coastal, crust, such, active
	content words:		Pacific Ocean, South America, Pacific Plate, Mediterranean Belt, Mediterranean Sea, Mount Etna, Mount Vesuvius, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Hawaiian Islands

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Where Do Volcanoes Occur?
By Patti Hutchison

¹     Is there a volcano in your back yard? Probably not, unless you live near the Ring of Fire.

²     The Ring of Fire is a zone that is shaped like a horseshoe. It circles around the coastal areas of the Pacific Ocean for about 40,000 kilometers. It touches four continents: North and South America, Asia, and Australia.

³     This region is called the Ring of Fire for a good reason. Seventy-five percent of the earth's active and dormant volcanoes are located in these areas.

⁴     Why have so many volcanoes formed along the Ring of Fire? The answer is plate tectonics. This area is a subduction zone.

⁵     A subduction zone is where two plate boundaries bump into each other. When this happens, one plate is subducted, or "sucked under" the other one. The bottom plate sinks into the mantle and melts. Magma is formed.

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