Alpide belt

"Alpide" redirects here; not to be confused with alpine.

Tectonic map of Alpine structures in the Middle East and southern Europe, which form the western part of the Alpide belt.

The Alpide belt is a mountain range which extends along the southern margin of Eurasia. Stretching from Java to Sumatra through the Himalayas, the Mediterranean, and out into the Atlantic, it includes the Alps, the Carpathians, the mountains of Asia Minor and Iran, the Hindu Kush, the Himalayas, and the mountains of Southeast Asia. After the Pacific Ring of Fire, it is the second most seismic region in the world, with 17% of the world's largest earthquakes and 5-6% of all earthquakes.

The Alpide belt is being created by ongoing plate tectonics, namely the process of collision between the northward-moving African, Arabian and Indian plates and the Eurasian plate.

Indonesia lies between the Pacific Ring of Fire along the northeastern islands adjacent to and including New Guinea and the Alpide belt along the south and west from Sumatra, Java, Bali, Flores, and Timor. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake just off the coast of Sumatra was located within the Alpide belt.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Pacific Ring of Fire

References

• Historic Earthquakes & Earthquake Statistics - USGS
• "Ring of Fire", Plate Tectonics, Sea-Floor Spreading, Subduction Zones, "Hot Spots" - USGS

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