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Cinder cones are the smallest and simplest type of volcano. But that doesn't mean they can't pack a punch. Best described as steep, conical hills, cinder cones are formed by pyroclastic rock fragments, or cinders, which accumulate and gradually build a tapered mound or knoll with a bowl-shaped crater at the top. While most are modest in size, some appear as large as mountains, spectacular in their scale and beauty. Cinder cones are found scattered around the world, but where can you admire the most dramatic and compelling examples?
Click through and find out which destinations can claim cinder cone fame.
One of the most picturesque cinder cones, Wizard Island raises its head above the surface of Crater Lake in Oregon. The island was created after the Mount Mazama volcano blew its top approximately 7,700 years ago.
Cerro Negro is an active basaltic cinder cone set in the Cordillera de los Maribios mountain range near the village of Malpaisillo. The Earth's most historically active cinder cone, Cerro Negro last rumbled into life in 1999.
Parícutin is a cinder cone volcano located in the Mexican state of Michoacán. It's been dormant since the last eruption in 1952, which devastated a nearby village.
The lunar-like Haleakalā National Park depression on the Hawaiian island of Maui is pocked with a scattering of dimpled volcanic cones.
One of as many as 600 cinder cones in the San Francisco volcanic field, Sunset Crater, located about 25 km (15 mi) northeast of Flagstaff in Arizona, erupted into life sometime between 1040 and 1100, forever changing the landscape and ecology of the area.
Embellishing an Auckland suburb is Maungawhau, also called Mount Eden. A cinder cone that's also a Tūpuna Maunga (volcanic cones that hold great historical, spiritual, ancestral, and cultural significance to the Māori people), dormant Maungawhau is the highest natural point on the Auckland isthmus.
A defining feature of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument in central Oregon, Lava Butte last erupted about 7,000 years ago. In 1966, the cinder cone was one of the sites chosen by NASA to train astronauts for the then-upcoming Moon landings.
Mount Edziza Provincial Park in British Columbia is named for the Mount Edziza volcanic complex, a dazzling canvas of overlapping shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes, cinder cones, lava domes, and calderas.
Located within the Mojave Trails National Monument in southern California, the Amboy Crater is a dormant cinder cone that's easily reached from the historic US Route 66, which runs just a few minutes' south of the landmark.
Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima has gone down in history as the cinder cone at whose summit United States Marines were photographed raising the American flag during the decisive Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945.
Tucked away in the volcanic Wrangell Mountains of eastern Alaska is Mount Gordon, a remote and diminutive cinder cone no higher than 100 m (328 ft). Image: United States Geological Survey
Opal Cone, pictured center in the background, is a cinder cone located on the southeast flank of Mount Garibaldi in British Columbia. Sparkling in the foreground are the Elfin Lakes.
Named for Old Schonchin, a 19th-century Modoc peoples' chief, this extinct cinder cone stands in the Cascade Range in northern California. Its summit is topped by a fire lookout tower.
One of Europe's most recognized cinder cones is Puy de Pariou, which sits in the Chaîne des Puys, in the Massif Central of France.
Kula, a district in the Aegean region of Turkey, is renowned for the near-100 cone-shaped volcanic rock formations that pock the landscape.
Located in Michoacán state, central Mexico, El Jorullo erupted in 1759 and continued simmering for 15 years, eventually running out of steam in 1774. El Jorullo is just 80 km (50 mi) northwest of Parícutin.
Capulin is a well-preserved symmetrical cinder cone that distinguishes the landscape of northwestern New Mexico. Visitors can drive up to a parking lot at the rim of the extinct volcano.
Maunga Puna Pau is a small cinder cone on Easter Island. The quarry it overlooks supplied the red volcanic stone that the prehistoric Rapanui used to carve the pukao (topknots) that they put on the heads of some of their iconic moai statues. Several abandoned pukao lie near the base of the cone.
Lassen Volcanic National Park in northeastern California is a volcanologist's paradise: it's one of the few areas in the world where all four types of volcano can be found—plug dome, shield, cinder cone, and stratovolcano.
As close to a lunar landscape as you'll find anywhere on Earth, Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho encompasses three major lava fields and contains 25 cinder cones.
Italy's claim to cinder cone fame is Monte Nuovo, located within the Campi Flegrei caldera, near Naples. Its eruption in 1538 was the first in modern times to be described by a large number of eyewitnesses.
A prominent Victoria landmark, Mount Elephant is a conical breached cinder cone that last erupted 180,000 years ago. It's now extinct.
Last active in 1971 but with no seismic activity recorded since, Teneguía, on the Canary island of La Palma, is today a popular tourist attraction.
Rising above a lava plain in the Mojave Desert in California, Pisgah Crater has lost much of its original cinder cone shape to ongoing aggregate mining operations.
Rising up in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park in Java, Mount Batok is an inactive cinder cone that Tenggerese lore suggests was formed from a coconut shell. In Javanese, batok means "coconut shell."
Another cinder cone studding the San Francisco volcanic field in Arizona, SP Crater lies north of Flagstaff and has recently been used by NASA to train a new generation of astronauts with a view to returning to the Moon.
Puu Oo is a volcanic cone set on the flanks of the Kīlauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island. In 1983, Puu Oo came alive and ranks as the longest and most voluminous known outpouring of lava from Kīlauea in more than 500 years. The lava finally stopped flowing in 2018.
A popular winter sports destination, Hoodoo Butte is a cinder cone found in the Cascade Range of northern Oregon. The views from Santiam Pass afford inspiring views of Mount Washington.
An example of a tuff cone rather than a cinder cone, Koko Crater is the defining geologic feature of Koko Head on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
The land of ice and fire is well known for its dramatic alien-like landscape. Hverfjall doesn't quite make it as a cinder cone either. Instead, it is classified as a tephra cone or tuff ring volcano. Nonetheless breathtaking in its perspective, Hverfjall is deserving of a spot on this list.
See also: Alien-looking landscapes you won't believe are found on Earth
Cinder cones: the mini volcanoes that pack a punch
Which destinations can claim cinder cone fame?
TRAVEL Natural world
Cinder cones are the smallest and simplest type of volcano. But that doesn't mean they can't pack a punch. Best described as steep, conical hills, cinder cones are formed by pyroclastic rock fragments, or cinders, which accumulate and gradually build a tapered mound or knoll with a bowl-shaped crater at the top. While most are modest in size, some appear as large as mountains, spectacular in their scale and beauty. Cinder cones are found scattered around the world, but where can you admire the most dramatic and compelling examples?
Click through and find out which destinations can claim cinder cone fame.