"Rising Threat: Subduction Zone Stirring Beneath Atlantic Ocean Could Form New 'Ring of Fire'"

A subduction zone known as the Gibraltar arc, located between Portugal and Morocco, has been creeping westward and could eventually invade the Atlantic Ocean, leading to the formation of an Atlantic subduction system similar to the Ring of Fire in the Pacific. Despite appearing dormant, new research suggests that the arc is merely in a period of quiet and could resume its advance in the next 20 million years, potentially causing the Atlantic Ocean to slowly close up. The subduction zone's movement has been linked to the relative lack of seismicity and volcanism in the region, with the last major earthquake occurring in 1755.