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]

Ecuador. Tungurahua is an active stratovolcano in Ecuador's Cordillera Oriental, about 140 km south of Quito. UNESCO named it a new Global Geopark on 10 April 2025, alongside Ecuador's Napo Sumaco site. Peru, Bolivia and Colombia each have their own famous volcanoes, but none of them is Tungurahua. Read more: WorldGeo0025 — The Andean Volcanic Belt: Ecuador's Volcanoes and the Ring of Fire.

Along with Tungurahua Volcano, which other Ecuadorian site was named a UNESCO Global Geopark in April 2025?

Napo Sumaco. UNESCO named both Tungurahua Volcano and Napo Sumaco as Ecuador's newest UNESCO Global Geoparks on 10 April 2025. Imbabura was already Ecuador's first UNESCO Global Geopark, designated earlier; the Galápagos Islands and Sangay are separately recognised as a World Heritage Site and a National Park, not Global Geoparks. Read more: WorldGeo0025 — The Andean Volcanic Belt: Ecuador's Volcanoes and the Ring of Fire.

The Andes, the world's longest continental mountain range, is located in which continent?

South America. The Andes stretch roughly 7,000 kilometres along South America's western edge. They pass through seven countries, including Chile, Argentina and Peru. The range formed from the collision between the South American and Nazca tectonic plates, making it a classic example of a fold mountain range.

The Andes were formed mainly by the subduction of which tectonic plate beneath the South American Plate?

The Nazca Plate. The correct answer is the Nazca Plate. Its ongoing subduction beneath the South American Plate, over roughly 200 million years, uplifted the Andes and still drives volcanic and seismic activity there. Read more: WorldGeo0027 — The Andes Mountains.

The 'Ring of Fire', a major zone of intense seismic and volcanic activity, roughly traces the boundary of the?

Pacific Ocean. This horseshoe-shaped zone stretches around the Pacific Ocean's edges, passing through countries like Japan, Indonesia and Chile. It contains roughly 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes. Most of this activity results from the collision and subduction of tectonic plates surrounding the Pacific.

What share of the world's active and dormant volcanoes lie along the Circum-Pacific Belt (Ring of Fire)?

75%. About 75% of the world's volcanoes, roughly 452 in total, sit along this belt. Read more: WorldGeo0063 — The Circum-Pacific Belt (Ring of Fire).

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The Andean Volcanic Belt: Ecuador’s Volcanoes and the Ring of Fire

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.

Active Tungurahua above Baños de Agua Santa, Ecuador, January 2010. Photo: Hjvannes, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Andean Volcanic Belt, at a glance

Where the Nazca Plate dives beneath South America, and lit up the Andes with volcanoes

4 countries

Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia all sit atop active volcanoes.

~75%

Share of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes along the Ring of Fire.

6,263 m

Chimborazo’s height, yet it’s the point farthest from Earth’s centre.

10 April 2025

UNESCO named Tungurahua Volcano a new Global Geopark.

SubductionOne tectonic plate sliding beneath another; the Nazca Plate subducts beneath South America here.

Ring of FireA horseshoe-shaped volcanic and seismic belt circling the Pacific Ocean, about 40,000 km long.

Equatorial BulgeEarth bulges outward at the equator, so peaks there sit farther from the planet’s centre.

LaharA fast-moving mudflow of volcanic debris and melted ice, often triggered by an eruption.

Contents

Why Are the Andes So Volcanically Active?
What Makes Ecuador’s Volcanoes Distinct?
How Do Peru, Bolivia and Colombia’s Volcanoes Compare?
Why Did UNESCO Name Tungurahua a Global Geopark?

Why Are the Andes So Volcanically Active?

Must Know

What drives the Andean Volcanic Belt?

The Nazca Plate, an oceanic plate under the eastern Pacific, pushes east and dives beneath the South American Plate.
This subduction is fast by geological standards: the Nazca Plate slides under South America at roughly 6 to 10 centimetres a year.
Over millions of years, this collision folded and lifted the crust, building the Andes, the world’s longest continental mountain range.
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.
The Andean Volcanic Belt is part of the wider Pacific Ring of Fire, a horseshoe-shaped belt stretching roughly 40,000 km from South America to New Zealand.
About 75% of the world’s active volcanoes sit along this belt, and it produces about 90% of the world’s earthquakes. The Andean belt forms its longest single continental stretch.

Q1. True or False: The Nazca Plate subducts beneath the South American Plate, and this process built the Andes.

Q2. True or False: The Ring of Fire accounts for about 90% of the world’s active volcanoes.

What Makes Ecuador’s Volcanoes Distinct?

Good to Know

Why is Chimborazo, not Everest, the farthest point from Earth’s centre?

Tungurahua, meaning “Throat of Fire” in Quichua, sits in Ecuador’s Cordillera Oriental, about 140 km south of Quito, and reaches 5,023 metres.
The tourist town of Baños sits just 8 km north of its summit. An eruptive phase from 1999 to 2017 repeatedly tested the town’s resilience, and magma-heated groundwater still feeds its hot springs.
Cotopaxi rises just south of Quito to about 5,897 metres, one of the world’s highest continuously active volcanoes, with a near-perfect symmetrical cone.
Chimborazo, Ecuador’s tallest peak at 6,263 metres, is currently dormant, unlike Cotopaxi and Tungurahua.
Earth bulges at the equator, so a peak near the equator can stand farther from the planet’s centre than a taller peak elsewhere.
Mount Everest is taller measured from sea level. But Chimborazo sits almost on the equator, making its summit the single farthest point on Earth’s surface from the planet’s centre.

Q3. True or False: Chimborazo, though shorter than Mount Everest measured from sea level, is the point on Earth’s surface farthest from the planet’s centre.

Q4. True or False: Chimborazo is currently one of Ecuador’s most active, erupting volcanoes.

The four segments of the Andean Volcanic Belt, separated by volcanic gaps. Map: Chiton magnificus, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How Do Peru, Bolivia and Colombia’s Volcanoes Compare?

Good to Know

Which volcano actually gets watched most closely?

Ubinas, in Peru’s Moquegua region, is the country’s most active volcano. It has erupted repeatedly since the 16th century and stands 5,672 metres tall.
El Misti rises to 5,822 metres above Arequipa, Peru’s second-largest city. It is taller than Ubinas, but considered more dormant.
Height and activity don’t always line up: Ubinas, not the taller Misti, is the volcano Peru monitors most closely for near-term eruption risk.
Nevado Sajama, Bolivia’s highest peak at 6,542 metres, sits about 20 km from the Chilean border. Parinacota, roughly 6,380 metres, forms a paired volcano group with neighbouring Pomerape on the Bolivia-Chile border, called the Nevados de Payachata.
Nevado del Ruiz erupted on 13 November 1985, after 69 years of dormancy. Its heat melted glacial ice, sending lahars that destroyed the Colombian town of Armero within hours, killing an estimated 23,000 people.
Galeras, near Pasto, is Colombia’s most frequently active volcano today, with eruptions recorded since 1580. Nevado del Ruiz still threatens up to 500,000 people living in nearby river valleys.

Remember the trap. Taller doesn’t mean more dangerous. Peru watches Ubinas most closely, not the taller El Misti; Colombia watches both Nevado del Ruiz and Galeras closely, because activity, not height, drives eruption risk.

Think it through, before reading on. Nevado del Ruiz’s 1985 eruption was a relatively modest one by volcanic standards, yet it killed roughly 23,000 people. Why would a smaller eruption cause such a large disaster?

Show the explanation

The volcano’s heat melted glacial ice near its summit, and that meltwater raced downhill, picking up ash, rock, and soil to become lahars, fast-moving mudflows. The town of Armero sat directly in a river valley below, so the danger wasn’t the eruption’s size but the deadly mudflow it triggered on the terrain beneath it.

Why Did UNESCO Name Tungurahua a Global Geopark?

Current Affairs

What does the new Tungurahua Volcano Geopark actually protect?

On 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.
The geopark spans five cantons: Baños de Agua Santa, Patate, Pelileo, Guano and Penipe, covering parts of both Tungurahua and Chimborazo provinces.
It preserves over 417 million years of geological history, and also protects the living traditions of the Salasaca and Puruhá indigenous peoples.
Tungurahua is Ecuador’s second UNESCO Global Geopark, after Imbabura in the country’s north.
On 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.

Q5. True or False: Tungurahua and Napo Sumaco were both named UNESCO Global Geoparks on the same day in April 2025.

Q6. True or False: Tungurahua is Ecuador’s first UNESCO Global Geopark.

Quick Q&A

Why are the Andes so volcanically active?

The Nazca Plate subducts beneath the South American Plate, releasing water that lowers the melting point of rock and feeds volcanoes.

Why is Chimborazo, not Everest, the point farthest from Earth’s centre?

Earth bulges at the equator, and Chimborazo sits almost on it, pushing its summit farther out than taller peaks elsewhere.

Why does Peru watch Ubinas more closely than the taller El Misti?

Ubinas is far more active, having erupted repeatedly since the 16th century, while El Misti is considered more dormant.

What did UNESCO recognise in Ecuador on 10 April 2025?

Tungurahua Volcano and Napo Sumaco were both named new UNESCO Global Geoparks.

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📝 Exam Point of View

UPSC CSP 2026 — A country-identification question pointed straight at Ecuador: Tungurahua sits entirely within the Cordillera Oriental, and it was named a Global Geopark in April 2025 alongside Napo Sumaco, also in Ecuador. Peru, Bolivia and Colombia each have famous volcanoes, but none of them is Tungurahua. View this question →

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