Building a Cinder Cone

Cinder cones experience a single eruptive period and then die. Several explosive eruptions created Capulin Volcano during a period as short as one year or as long as nine or more years. Today Capulin Volcano is extinct. Volcanic ash, cinders, and rocks, blown thousands of feet into the air, blanketed the landscape as they cooled and fell. Layers of dust-like ash, small rocks called cinders, and larger chunks called volcanic bombs piled up around the vent to build the cone.

New Mexico · United States