This is an image of a cinder cone in Oregon called Lava Butte.
Click on image for full size
Image from: U.S. Geological Survey

Cinder Cones

Cinder cones are simple volcanoes which have a bowl-shaped crater at the summit and rarely rise more than a thousand feet above their surroundings. They usually are created of eruptions from a single vent, and are composed solely of lava remnants. Cinders of lava, blown into the air during eruptions, break into small fragments that fall into a pile around the vent. The pile forms an oval-shaped small volcano, as shown in this picture.

Famous cinder cones include Paricutin in Mexico. Another well known cinder cone is in the middle of Crater Lake.


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