Spatter cone Photograph by
T.N Mattox on 3 March 1992
Spatter and cinder cone Photograph
by C. Heliker on 2 June 1986
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Spatter and cinder
cone
Long-lived basaltic lava fountains that erupt spatter, scoria or cinder,
and other tephra from a central vent typically build steep-sided cones
called spatter-and-cinder cones. The greatest bulk of these cones
consists of spatter, but during fountaining a lava flow usually pours
down one side of the cone. Eruptions that build spatter and cinder cones
are much longer in duration and much more varied in intensity than those
that eject only spatter to build spatter cones and ramparts.
Top photo: A small short-lived lava fountain built this
elongate cone of spatter around a vent located on the flank of
the much larger Pu`u `O`o spatter and cinder cone. This spatter
cone is 4-5 m tall.
Bottom photo: Lava fountain from the main vent of Pu`u
`O`o adds new tephra to its towering spatter and cinder cone. In
1986, the cone was about 255 m tall. The summit was built higher
than the main vent (about 86 m higher) as tephra from dozens of
tall fountains between 1983 and 1986 was blown by the persistent
trade winds toward the southeast.
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