Coastal Lands

Flanking the Pacific Ocean and its adjacent seas are more than 25 nations. The climate ranges from arctic to tropical, and landforms include mountains, plains, tundras, and deserts. Some areas are densely populated, others virtually uninhabited.

Fringing most of the Pacific is the Circum-Pacific Mobile Belt (the so-called Ring of Fire), a belt of active, dormant, and extinct volcanoes. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes often occur, destroying life and property. Such disturbances when underwater cause tidal waves called tsunamis. These are particularly destructive when they break on heavily populated coasts.