Voyage of the Continents

Oceania: Tectonic Ring of Fire

0.043mJune 6, 2012

Australia is the most stable continent on earth. That makes it an ideal location for scientists to study the early earth with 4.4 billion year old zircons and 2.6 billion year old stromatolites and thrombolites that created our oxygen atmosphere. But now the Australian Tectonic Plate is colliding with the Pacific Plate joining the ring of fire. In the north the collision created the Vanuatu Archipelago of 80 volcanic islands. In the east the collision is raising New Zealnd causing some 14,000 earthquakes each year.