INDONESIA VOLCANO

Indonesia in red

One of today's global news happenings is the eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki in Indonesia.  Ash is said to have spewed into the sky some 6.8 miles.  Imagine how far up that is and what force was capable of such an eruption.

Most of us hear about far-away countries, we recognize their names, but truly don't where they are on the global map.  For me, I'm not familiar with Indonesia....thus, today's topic.

This southeast Asian country is made up of more than 17,000 Islands sprinkled across the Indian and Pacific Oceans.....6,000 inhabited.  Indonesia sits on both sides of the equator, straddling the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. 

Interestingly, Indonesia lies within the Pacific Ring of Fire and has hundreds of volcanoes across the islands, with some 130 active.  To put this into perspective, to the left is a photo found in Wikipedia showing their locations and names.  The Laki Laki volcano that erupted yesterday is on the island of Flores, east of Bali.

Circle marks Bali

In 1883, the volcano Krakatau eruption had an explosive force equal to a 200-megatonne bomb, killing over 36,000 people.

Indonesia has the highest concentration of volcanoes in the world.

The Ring of Fire is a string of underwater volcanoes and earthquake sites.  
Some 90% of all earthquakes
and 75% of active volcanoes on Earth
occur along the Ring of Fire,

Tectonic Plates

Ring of Fire is a horse-shoe shaped region in the Pacific Ocean stretching some 25,000 miles.  It's formed by several tectonic plates meeting and leading to intense geological activity.  Tectonic plates are massive slabs of solid rock that make up the Earth's crust.  These plates move and interact with each other.  The results of this movement are earthquakes,volcanic eruptions and the formation of mountain ranges.  These plates move at a slow pace, compared to the rate that fingernails grow.