The majority of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes on our planet occur along the so called Ring of Fire - a chain of over five hundred dormant three hundred active volcanoes lined up along the perimeter of the Pacific Ocean. The reason is that this area lies on the junction of oceanic and continental tectonic plates, and volcanic activity is directly linked with their incessant interaction in the ongoing process of continent drift.The Pacific Ring of Fire (or rather, an arc) stretches along the oceanic coast of North and South America, the Antarctic, continues across New Zealand, Philippines and Japan, and reaches the Kurils and the Kamchatka peninsula. The latter is called the Land of Volcanoes for a good reason, and the Klyuchevskaya group of volcanoes on Kamchatka is truly a volcanic sanctuary. The eruption of the Tolbachik volcanic massif of 2012-2013, considered among the largest eruptions globally, was yet another bright manifestation of the volcanic activity in the area. Luckily, unlike the eruptions of many of its' Pacific "brethren", it caused no casualties, but held quite a few surprises for its researchers
