Two volcanic eruptions in Russia might not be the last. Several more in Ring of Fire will explode, experts warn

The Ring of Fire, comprising nearly 75 per cent of the world's active volcanoes and earthquake zones, is at risk of volcanic eruptions following the Russian earthquake. The magnitude 8.8 temblor struck the country's eastern Kamchatka region, triggering tsunami warnings. Waves reached Japan and Hawaii after several hours. The Ring of Fire is a chain that runs for over 40,000 kilometres around the Pacific Ocean. Scientists fear that the energy released by the earthquake has likely shaken several underground pressure systems, even those that are far from the epicentre. This could have destabilised magma chambers under the active volcanoes, and could cause them to erupt. When tectonic plates shift, they release energy that can travel through the Earth's crust as seismic waves. A volcano in Russia's far east erupted hours after the earthquake. Videos of the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano showed "red-hot lava" flowing down the western slope. "There is a powerful glow above the volcano and explosions," the Russian Geophysical Survey said. Another one, the Krasheninnikov volcano, which had been dormant for nearly 600 years, erupted on Sunday (3 Aug). Also Read: Eurasia's highest volcano Klyuchevskoy erupts in Russia after 8.8 magnitude earthquake

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How do earthquakes trigger volcanic eruptions?

Experts don't think this would end here. Scientifically speaking, subduction, or the movement of a tectonic plate under a neighbouring plate, turns rock into magma because of the lowering of the melting point of rock in the mantle. This magma then moves upwards and erupts from the volcanoes. This means that earthquakes trigger volcanic eruptions, and so there are chances that more of them along the Ring of Fire can blow up. The Ring of Fire runs from Russia and Japan to the western coast of the US and Antarctica. Mount Erebus, the southernmost active volcano on Earth, also falls in this region. Loÿc Vanderkluysen, a volcanologist at Drexel University in Philadelphia, told Live Science, "What's special about the Ring of Fire is that multiple oceanic plates in the Pacific have subduction boundaries there." The Daily Mail reported Michael Manga, a geoscientist at the University of California, Berkeley, as saying that volcanoes located on the westernmost part of the arc have a higher chance of bursting. "Volcanoes in volcanic arcs, including Chile, the US Cascades, Japan, Indonesia and Kamchatka," can face eruptions after earthquakes, he said. Also Read: Russia earthquake: No, the tsunami has not left Beluga Whales stranded

Also Read: Russia-Japan earthquake: What is Pacific Ring of Fire

Why did Klyuchevskoy volcano erupt?

While the chances of a volcanic eruption are now high in the Ring of Fire, it might not happen immediately. Experts say a volcanic eruption could take up to two years. Volcanoes at a higher risk of exploding are ones that already have magma close to the surface. The Klyuchevskoy volcano, located near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsk in Russia's Kamchatka region, is believed to have been in this state, leading to an eruption. It is one of the tallest volcanoes in the world, standing tall at 15,584 feet. Kamchatka is one of the most volcanically active regions on Earth and has around 300 volcanoes.