Ecuador’s Tungurahua volcano earned a UNESCO badge in 2025. It sits inside a single chain of fire that circles almost the entire Pacific Ocean.
That chain is the Andean Volcanic Belt, part of the wider Pacific Ring of Fire. It explains why Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia all sit on top of active volcanoes, and why one of them just became a UNESCO Global Geopark.
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The Andean Volcanic Belt, by the Numbers
Why Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia all live on top of active volcanoes
0%
of the world’s earthquakes strike along the Pacific Ring of Fire, the belt the Andes trace (National Geographic)
0 m
Tungurahua’s summit, above Baños de Agua Santa, Ecuador
0 m
Chimborazo’s summit — Earth’s point farthest from the planet’s centre
6–10 cm
Nazca Plate’s subduction rate under South America, per year
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Length of the Andes, the world’s longest continental range
0
UNESCO Global Geoparks worldwide, across 50 countries, after April 2025
~23,000
Lives lost in Colombia’s 1985 Nevado del Ruiz/Armero disaster
Not Every Andean Volcano Is Ecuador’s
Peru’s Misti, Bolivia’s Sajama and Colombia’s Nevado del Ruiz all sit on this same Andean belt. Only Tungurahua carries the new 2025 UNESCO Global Geopark tag, and only Tungurahua sits inside Ecuador.
🌋 The Andean Volcanic Belt and the Ring of Fire
1. Why the Andes Are So Volcanically Active
- The Collision The Nazca Plate is an oceanic plate under the eastern Pacific Ocean. It pushes east and dives beneath the South American Plate.
- Subduction Rate This subduction is fast, by geological standards. The Nazca Plate slides under South America at roughly 6 to 10 centimetres a year.
- Building the Andes Over millions of years, this collision folded and lifted the crust. That built the Andes, the world’s longest continental mountain range.
- Melting the Magma As the Nazca Plate sinks, it heats up and releases water into the rock above it. That water lowers the rock’s melting point, creating the magma that feeds Andean volcanoes.
2. The Pacific Ring of Fire
- What It Is The Ring of Fire is a horseshoe-shaped belt around the Pacific Ocean. It stretches roughly 40,000 km, from South America to New Zealand.
- Volcano Share About 75% of the world’s active volcanoes sit somewhere along this belt. The Andean Volcanic Belt forms its longest single continental stretch. (Source: National Geographic)
- Earthquake Share The Ring of Fire also produces about 90% of the world’s earthquakes. Nazca Plate subduction is a major reason why. (Source: National Geographic)
- Other Plates The Ring of Fire is not just the Nazca Plate. The Pacific, Cocos, Caribbean, Philippine and Juan de Fuca plates all meet the Pacific Plate somewhere along this same belt.
🇪🇨 Ecuador’s Volcanoes
1. Tungurahua: The Throat of Fire
- Meaning Tungurahua means “Throat of Fire” in the Quichua language. It is one of Ecuador’s most active volcanoes.
- Location The volcano sits in the Cordillera Oriental of the Andes, about 140 km south of Quito. Its summit reaches 5,023 metres.
- Baños de Agua Santa The tourist town of Baños sits just 8 km north of the summit. An eruptive phase from 1999 to 2017 repeatedly tested the town’s resilience.
- Hot Springs Magma beneath Tungurahua heats underground water. That geothermal activity feeds the mineral-rich hot springs that draw visitors to Baños.
2. Cotopaxi and Chimborazo
- Cotopaxi Cotopaxi rises just south of Quito to about 5,897 metres. It is one of the world’s highest continuously active volcanoes, with a near-perfect symmetrical cone.
- Chimborazo Chimborazo is Ecuador’s tallest peak, at 6,263 metres. Unlike Cotopaxi and Tungurahua, it is currently dormant.
- Farthest From Earth’s Centre Earth bulges at the equator. So a peak near the equator can stand farther from the planet’s centre than a taller peak elsewhere.
- Why This Matters Mount Everest is taller measured from sea level. But Chimborazo sits almost on the equator, where the bulge pushes its summit even farther from Earth’s core — making it the single farthest point on Earth’s surface from the planet’s centre.
đź—» Volcanoes of Peru, Bolivia and Colombia
1. Peru: Ubinas and Misti
- Ubinas Ubinas is Peru’s most active volcano, in the Moquegua region in the south. It has erupted repeatedly since the 16th century, and stands 5,672 metres tall.
- Misti El Misti rises to 5,822 metres above Arequipa, Peru’s second-largest city. It is taller than Ubinas, but considered more dormant.
- Why the Contrast Matters Height and activity do not always line up. Ubinas, not the taller Misti, is the volcano Peru monitors most closely for near-term eruption risk.
2. Bolivia: Sajama and Parinacota
- Sajama Nevado Sajama is Bolivia’s highest peak, at 6,542 metres. It sits about 20 km from the Chilean border.
- Parinacota Parinacota reaches roughly 6,380 metres, right on the Bolivia-Chile border. It forms a paired volcano group with neighbouring Pomerape, called the Nevados de Payachata.
- Shared Geography Both volcanoes sit on Bolivia’s high Altiplano plateau. It is the same Nazca Plate subduction system that builds Ecuador’s volcanoes, just much farther south.
3. Colombia: Nevado del Ruiz and Galeras
- Nevado del Ruiz Nevado del Ruiz erupted on 13 November 1985, after 69 years of dormancy. Its heat melted glacial ice, sending lahars racing toward the town of Armero.
- The Armero Tragedy The resulting mudflows destroyed Armero within hours. An estimated 23,000 people died, making it Colombia’s worst natural disaster. (Source: Armero tragedy)
- Galeras Galeras, near the city of Pasto, is Colombia’s most frequently active volcano today. Its summit stands 4,276 metres tall, with eruptions recorded since 1580.
- A Grim Reminder Nevado del Ruiz still threatens up to 500,000 people living in nearby river valleys. Colombia now monitors both volcanoes closely for early warning signs.
đź“° Current Affairs
1. Tungurahua Becomes a UNESCO Global Geopark, 2025
- 10 April 2025 UNESCO recognised Tungurahua Volcano as a new UNESCO Global Geopark. Ecuador’s Napo Sumaco site was named alongside it, the same day. (Source: UNESCO)
- What the Geopark Covers The Tungurahua Volcano Geopark spans five cantons: Baños de Agua Santa, Patate, Pelileo, Guano and Penipe. It covers parts of both Tungurahua and Chimborazo provinces. (Source: UNESCO)
- Why It Qualified The geopark preserves over 417 million years of geological history. It also protects the living traditions of the Salasaca and Puruhá indigenous peoples. (Source: UNESCO)
- Ecuador’s Second Geopark Tungurahua is Ecuador’s second UNESCO Global Geopark. Imbabura, in the country’s north, was designated earlier. (Source: UNESCO)
- 17 April 2025 UNESCO’s Executive Board formally endorsed 16 new Global Geoparks worldwide that month, Tungurahua and Napo Sumaco among them. That took the global network to 229 sites, across 50 countries. (Source: UNESCO)
Test Yourself
Tungurahua’s Country, and the Answer Key
- Tungurahua sits entirely within Ecuador, in the Cordillera Oriental of the Andes.
- Peru, Bolivia and Colombia each have their own famous volcanoes, but none of them is Tungurahua.
- UNESCO named it a Global Geopark in April 2025, alongside Napo Sumaco, also in Ecuador.
- So the correct answer is option (a), Ecuador.
Previous Year Question
Asked as: “Tungurahua Volcano, which was declared a Global Geopark by UNESCO in 2025, is situated in which one among the following countries?” (UPSC CSP 2026, GS Paper I).
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