Cinder Cone and The Fantastic Lava Beds

Cinder Cone And The Fantastic Lava Beds

Cinder Cone is a cinder cone volcano in Lassen Volcanic National Park (itself in Northern California in the United States). Within the park it is located about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Lassen Peak and provides an excellent view of Brokeoff Mountain, Lassen Peak, and Chaos Crags.

The cone was built to a height of 750 feet (230 m) above the surrounding area and spread ash over 30 square miles (78 km2). Then, like many cinder cones, it was snuffed out when several basalt lava flows erupted from its base. These flows, called the Fantastic Lava Beds, spread northeast and southwest, and dammed creeks, first creating Snag Lake on the south and then Butte Lake to the north. Butte Lake is fed by water from Snag Lake seeping through the lava beds. Nobles Emigrant Trail goes around Snag Lake and follows the edge of the lava beds.

Its age has been controversial since the 1870s, when many people thought it was only a few decades old. Later, the cone and associated lava flows were thought to have formed about 1700 or during a 300-year- long series of eruptions ending in 1851. However, recent studies by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists, working in cooperation with the National Park Service to better understand volcano hazards in the Lassen area, have firmly established that Cinder Cone was formed during two eruptions that occurred in the 1650s.