Ring of Fire volcanic eruptions of the last 11,700 years occurred at volcanoes in the Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire is a direct result of plate tectonics: the movement and collisions of lithospheric plates, especially subduction in the northern portion. The southern portion is more complex, with a number of smaller tectonic plates in collision with the Pacific plate from the Mariana Islands, the Philippines, Bougainville, Tonga, and New Zealand. The presence of a belt of volcanic activity surrounding the Pacific Ocean was observed in the 19th century. "They [the Japanese Islands] are in the line of that immense circle of
Circum-Superior Belt has been suggested for magmatism of the 2,215 million-year-old Nipissing sills as well, which the Ungava dike swarm could have transported magma to the Nipissing sills area. Before 2003, all magmatism of the Circum-Superior Belt was thought to only occur along the outer margin of the Superior craton. However, the Pickle Crow dike was discovered in 2003 in the interior of the Superior craton and it has since been recognized as a magmatic event related to the Circum-Superior Belt. The dike is dated to 1,880 million years old and associated dikes are traced for at least . These dikes likely