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Cinder Cone

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Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

Definition

Small truncated cone-shaped volcanic hill (Macdonald 1972) composed of unpaved cinder (scoria) and other pyroclastic deposits accumulated around an approximately circular vent or fissure vent that produces an elongated cone.

Synonyms

Scoria cone, Tephra cone

Note

Earth science literature today prefers the term scoria cone, whereas in planetary science the term cinder cone is more commonly used.

Description

Early-formed scoria cones are usually conical or horseshoe-shaped. They are commonly deposited on pyroclastic fallout deposits from magma degassing eruptions or by magmatic eruptions that often anticipate the building of cinder cone, constructed around the active vent and associated lava flow, enabling effusion and explosion occurring from the same vent. When protracted activity accumulates scoria around the vent, completing the cone, lava flows can emanate from lateral vents at the base of the cone (Pioli et al. 2009; Wood 1980a).

Morphometry

On Earth, on average their...

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Correspondence to Emőke Fodor .

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Fodor, E., Brož, P. (2015). Cinder Cone. In: Hargitai, H., Kereszturi, Á. (eds) Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3134-3_406

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