 This cinder cone (Pu`u ka Pele) was erupted low on the southeast flank of Mauna Kea Volcano. The cone is 95 m in height, and the diameter of the crater at the top is 400 m. Hualalai Volcano in background. |
Cinder cone
A cinder cone is a steep, conical hill of volcanic fragments that accumulate around and downwind from a vent. The rock fragments, often called cinders or scoria, are glassy and contain numerous gas bubbles "frozen" into place as magma exploded into the air and then cooled quickly. Cinder cones range in size from tens to hundreds of meters tall. |
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Red Cones, Long Valley Caldera, California This cone is one of two cinder cones called the Red Cones, located about 5 km south of Mammoth Mountain volcano and Long Valley Caldera in California. These basaltic cones and associated lava flows were erupted about 5,000 years ago. |
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Mount Etna, Italy This cinder cone on the flank of Mount Etna is surrounded by a younger basaltic lava flow. |
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Tavurvur, Rabaul Caldera, Papua New Guinea A small explosion from Tavurvur sends an eruption column into the sky a few weeks after it began erupting on September 19, 1994. Lava erupted from the cone in October 1996 and flowed through the breach in the crater (left center). Tavurvur is one of two active cinder cones located on the margins of Rabaul Caldera (for summary of recent activity, see activity reports from the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program). |
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Mount Veniaminof, Alaska Steam rises from the cinder cone within the caldera of Mount Veniaminof in the final stages of an eruption in 1983-1984. Lava flows that spilled down the side of the cone (dark areas) melted a pit in the summit ice cap about 2.3 x 1 km in dimension. |