It is hard to overstate the importance of subduction-related volcanic arcs in the geologic record and in the record of historic earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Subduction-related terrains appear to be represented in the geologic record from the Archeozoic to modern times and account for much of the world's volcanic activity. Convergent plate margins stretching for thousands of miles around the Pacific, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean have some of the most active volcanoes and largest geothermal systems in the world. Many of the world's largest hydrothermal ore deposits in the Andes, Indonesia, Japan, western North America, and other areas around the Pacific Ocean are examples