Subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the North American Plate creating the Aleutian trench and volcanic island arc (Credit: Alaska Volcano Observatory). Click image for a larger view.

Six of the majors are named for the continents embedded within them, such as the North American ... The tiny Juan de Fuca plate is largely responsible for the volcanoes that dot the Pacific ...

The Alaska Volcano Observatory says that if the snowcapped volcano erupts, the impacts could include damage to aircraft from ash.

New gas vents have opened on the slopes of Mount Spurr volcano in Alaska. According to volcanologists from the Alaska Volcano ...

Mount Spurr, located about 75 miles West of Anchorage, has been acting up in recent weeks, prompting officials at the U.S. Geological Survey and Alaska Volcano Observatory to issue a yellow alert.

As the plate moves apart, magma rises to the surface and cools, forming shallow-sided volcanoes. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, where the Eurasian and North American ...