Coordinates are on a flow by Kelbaker Road, but examples can be seen over a wide area. Feel free to explore the entire area to meet the logging requirements. However, please be sure your vehicle is appropriate for any roads you take and be sure to carry enough food, water and supplies incase you get stuck. Make sure someone knows you will be exploring this region.
The eruptions that formed these cinder cones and lava flows found in this area began 7.6 million years ago and finished about 10,000 years ago. It is thought that the lava came to the surface as region was pulled apart creating the Basin and Range province.
The lava that poured out of these vents in relatively fluid fountains and flowed across the landscape is basalt. As the lava flowed, many features, such as bubbles, flow ripples, and others became frozen in the surface of the flow.
Cinder cones often are formed near the end of an eruption. Any cones that are created early in the eruption are likely to be destroyed by a later episode in the eruption.
Cinder cones are formed from cooled chunks of lava ejected from a single central vent. Gas-filled lava is blown into the air where it breaks apart into small fragments and quickly cools creating cinders. These cinders are typically air filled and relatively light for rocks of their size. The cinders usually build up around the central vent to create a circular or oval cone with a crater at the summit.
Logging requirements:
Send me a note with :
- The text "GC13ETD Cinder Cones National Natural Landmark" on the first line
- The number of people in your group.
- A comparison of the cinder cones you see and the idealized diagram above. Also compare a few cinder cones to each other to see if you can determine some of the style of the eruptions that created each cinder cone or the age of the cinder cone.
- Find some features in the lava flows and post the coordinates and a description of it.
- If you get a chance, go up to one of the cinder cones and examine the cinders that make up the cone
- If you also find the Hole-in-the-wall, compare the rocks from the two different eruptions.
The above information was compiled from the following sources:
- USGS, Principal Types of Volcanoes, http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/volc/types.html Types of Igneous Rocks, Volcano Hazards Program – Reducing volcanic risk, USGS, http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Products/Pglossary/VolRocks.html
- Cinder Cones, Geology of Mojave National Preserve, USGS, http://www2.nature.nps.gov/geology/usgsnps/mojave/cinder1.html
- Cindercone schematic Source: http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/volc/types.html
Placement approved by the Mojave National Preserve
