AbstractsEarth & Environmental Science

Cinder Cone is the most recent cinder cone eruption in the continental United States at ~350 years old. This study examines the physical characteristics of the explosive deposit of the volcano in order to infer eruption timing, style, and mechanisms. Building on previous work and using spatial extent, field relationships, and grain size, componentry, and textural data of ten samples from one column, this study demonstrates that Cinder Cone erupted in at least two distinct phases with at least two distinct eruption styles. This speaks to the changing magma supply and transport processes occurring beneath the volcano. Curiosities about the eruption include the extensive degree of contamination that contributed abundant quartz xenocrysts to all the deposits. Future work includes determining the extent and mechanism/s of contamination and tephra component creation. These data are important for informing hazard assessments of areas with abundant cinder cone volcanoes.