cinder cone

Noun

cinder cone (plural cinder cones)

1. A conical deposit of rock fragments around a volcano.
   • The expiring energies of these volcanic agencies have piled up huge cinder cones that stand along the fissures, red, brown, and black, naked of vegetation, and conspicuous landmarks, set as they are in contrast to the bright, variegated rocks of sedimentary origin.1895, J[ohn] W[esley] Powell, chapter I, in Canyons of the Colorado, Meadville, PA: Flood & Vincent; republished as The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, New York: Dover, 1961...
   • There are ruins of cinder cones—evidence of fairly recent local action—and, in the basins and on the ranges, widespread falls of light ash from volcanoes beyond the province.1981, John McPhee, Basin and Range; reprinted in Annals of the Former World, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998, page 52

   Synonyms:

   scoria cone