View source for Cinder Cone and the Fantastic Lava Beds

{{short description|Cinder cone in California, U.S.}}
{{For|the type of volcano|cinder cone}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox mountain
 | name              = Cinder Cone  | photo             = Cinder Cone at Lassen Volcanic National Park.jpg
 | photo_caption     = Cinder Cone is a {{convert|748|ft|m|adj=on}} high cone of loose scoria
 | photo_size        = 256
 | elevation_ft      = 6896
 | elevation_ref     = {{NGVD29}}<ref name="gnis"/>
 | range             = [[Cascade Range]]
 | location          = [[Lassen County, California|Lassen]] and [[Shasta County, California|Shasta]] counties, [[California]], [[United States|U.S.]]
 | coordinates       = {{coord|40|32|51|N|121|19|12|W|type:mountain_region:US-CA_scale:100000|display=inline,title}}
 | coordinates_ref   = <ref name="gnis">{{cite gnis|258368|Cinder Cone|2009-09-03}}</ref>
 | topo_maker        = [[United States Geological Survey|USGS]] | topo_map          = Prospect Peak
 | type              = Extinct [[Volcanic cone#Cinder cone|Cinder cone]]
 | last_eruption     = 1666
 | volcanic_arc      = [[Cascade Volcanoes|Cascade Volcanic Arc]]
 | first_ascent      = 
 | easiest_route     = Trail hike
}}

'''Cinder Cone''' is a [[cinder cone]] volcano in [[Lassen Volcanic National Park]] within the [[United States]]. It is located about {{cvt|10|mi|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 {{cvt|750|ft|m}} above the surrounding area and spread [[Volcanic ash|ash]] over {{cvt|30|sqmi|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 (California)|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 [[volcanic eruptions|eruptions]] ending in 1851. Recent studies by [[U.S. Geological Survey]] (USGS) scientists, working in cooperation with the [[National Park Service]] to better understand [[volcanic hazard]]s in the Lassen area, have firmly established that Cinder Cone was formed during two eruptions that occurred in the 1650s.

== Geography ==
Cinder Cone lies in [[Lassen County, California|Lassen]] and [[Shasta County, California|Shasta]] counties, in [[Northern California]], within the United States. Located {{cvt|1.5|mi|km}} southwest of [[Butte Lake (California)|Butte Lake]] and {{cvt|2.2|mi|km}} southeast of Prospect Peak<ref name="gnis"/> (which dwarfs Cinder Cone),{{sfn|Harris|2005|p=36}} it is also sometimes referred to as Black Butte or Cinder Butte.<ref name="gnis"/> The volcano lies in the northeastern corner of [[Lassen Volcanic National Park]].{{sfn|Heiken|1978|p=119}}
[[File:Cinder Cone Top Panorama.png|thumb|right|upright=2.2|The summit crater of Cinder Cone]]
Nearby [[Snag Lake]] formed when lava known as the Painted Dunes flows dammed the Grassy Creek stream, which is fed by water from the central plateau of the national park area. Water from this lake feeds [[Butte Lake (California)|Butte Lake]], located {{cvt|2|mi|km}} to the north. Butte Lake is the sole remaining fragment of a much larger body of water filled with lava during Cinder Cone's eruptive period. [[Diatomaceous earth|Diatomite]] sediment, formed from the aggregation of [[diatom]]s on the lake's floor, run along the edges of the Fantastic Lava Beds and mark the margins of this former lake.<ref name="HowOld?"/>

== Description and geology ==
[[File:Cinder Cone Lassen locator map.png|thumb|Cinder Cone is in [[Lassen Volcanic National Park]].]]

Cinder Cone is a {{cvt|700|ft|m|adj=on}}-high volcanic cone of loose [[scoria]].{{sfn|Harris|2005|p=94}} The youngest mafic volcano in the Lassen volcanic center,<ref name=usgscinder>{{cite web |url=https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/lassen_volcanic_center/lassen_volcanic_center_geo_hist_44.html |title=The Formation of Cinder Cone, Lassen Volcanic National Park |work=California Volcano Observatory |publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]] |date=December 13, 2012 |access-date=January 10, 2018 |archive-date=January 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180111052615/https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/lassen_volcanic_center/lassen_volcanic_center_geo_hist_44.html |url-status=live }}</ref> it is surrounded by unvegetated [[Lava#Block lava flows|block lava]] and has concentric craters at its summit,{{sfn|Harris|2005|p=94}} which have diameters of {{cvt|320|m|ft|order=flip}} and {{cvt|180|m|ft|order=flip}}.{{sfn|Heiken|1978|p=119}} Cinder Cone comprises five [[basaltic andesite]] and andesite lava flows, and it also has two [[cinder cone]] volcanoes, with two scoria cones, the first of which was mostly destroyed by lava flows from its base.<ref name=usgscinder/> Cinder cone volcanoes are typically [[monogenetic volcanic field|monogenetic]], meaning that they only undergo one eruptive period before ceasing activity forever. These eruptions often consist of the ejection of [[tephra]], though they may also generate lava flows, which often originate from vents near the base rather than the summit of the volcanic edifice.{{sfn|Harris|2005|p=33}}

The summit of Cinder Cone has a [[volcanic crater|crater]] with a double rim ([//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Cinder_Cone_crater_in_Lassen_VNP-1200px.JPG photo]), probably created by two different phases of one eruptive period.{{sfn|Harris|2005|p=34}} The cone also has a widespread [[volcanic ash|ash]] deposit identifiable for {{cvt|8|to|10|mi|km}} from the cone. Blocks of red, cemented scoria within the Painted Dunes lava flows ([//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Cinder-Cone-Lassen-painted-dunes.JPG photo]) are pieces of this earlier cone, which were carried away by the flowing lava.<ref name="HowOld?">{{cite web |url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2000/fs023-00/ |title=How Old is "Cinder Cone"?–Solving a Mystery in Lassen Volcanic National Park, California: Fact Sheet 023-00 |author=Clynne, M. |editor=Diggles, M. |date=May 24, 2005 |publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]] |access-date=February 5, 2018 |archive-date=January 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180111165120/https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2000/fs023-00/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

When Cinder Cone formed, the magma feeding the eruption changed composition, shifting from [[basaltic andesite]] to [[andesite]] before returning to basaltic andesite with increased [[titanium]] content. While basaltic andesites are volcanic rocks containing 53 to 57% [[silicon dioxide|silica]], andesites are those containing 57 to 63% silica. The lava flows and scorias at the volcano closely resemble each other despite distinct chemical compositions, forming dark, fine-grained rocks, with a few visible crystals of the minerals [[olivine]], [[plagioclase]], and [[quartz]].<ref name="HowOld?"/>

The early group of volcanic deposits at Cinder Cone, which have relatively little titanium, include older scoria cone, the Old Bench flow, the two Painted Dunes flows, and the lower part of the widespread ash layer. The second group, erupted later and comparatively rich in titanium, consists of the large, younger scoria cone, the upper part of the ash layer, and the two Fantastic Lava Beds flows. Radiocarbon dating places these occurrences between 1630 and 1670 CE.<ref name="HowOld?"/> At the Old Bench and Painted Dunes lava flows, the volcanic ash is brightly oxidized because it interacted with the lava flows when they were still hot. It shares its compositional group with the Fantastic Lava Beds flows, which represent the last flows erupted at Cinder Cone. Ultimately, the eruptive sequence at Cinder Cone took place over the course of several months.<ref name="HowOld?"/>

An unusual characteristic of the Fantastic Lava Beds is the presence of anomalous quartz crystal [[Xenolith|xenocrysts]] (foreign bodies in [[igneous rock]]). Geologists think that they were picked up from wall rocks by the lava as it moved toward the surface.{{sfn|James|1966|pp=303–312}}

==Human history==

===Beginnings of a controversy===
[[File:Fantastic Lava Beds from Cinder Cone in Lassen VNP.jpg|thumb|The fresh look of the Fantastic Lava Beds (seen from Cinder Cone) led earlier observers to conclude they were at most a few decades old]]

After traveling through Northern California in the spring of 1851, two [[gold prospecting|gold prospectors]] reported seeing an erupting volcano that "threw up fire to a terrible height"<ref name="HowOld?"/> and that they had walked for {{cvt|10|mi|km}} over rocks that burned through their boots.{{sfn|Harris|2005|p=95}} This narrative complemented several accounts of activity at the volcano across 1850 and 1851, which all claimed to observe the eruptions from at least {{cvt|40|mi|km}} away.{{sfn|Harris|2005|p=94}}

During the early 1870s, medical doctor and amateur scientist [[H. W. Harkness]] from [[San Francisco, California]], visited the Cinder Cone area.{{sfn|Harkness|1875|pp=408–412}} Intrigued by the "apparent youthfulness" of the area's volcanic landmarks, he observed several features to argue that Cinder Cone was only about 25 years old.<ref name="HowOld?"/> He presented his conclusions at a meeting of the [[California Academy of Sciences]], and was contacted by Academy member Henry Chapman, who informed him of the gold prospector story. A number of other people reached out to Harkness about seeing volcanic activity in Lassen in about 1851, such as [[O. M. Wozencraft]], which led Harkness to think that Cinder Cone had erupted recently.<ref name="HowOld?"/>

Though there were multiple reports of eruptive activity near Lassen in Northern California newspapers during the 1850s, the details remain inconsistent. The first such report, which was published in the August 21, 1850, edition of the ''Daily Pacific News'' (a San Francisco newspaper), cited an unnamed observer who claimed to have seen "burning lava still running down the sides" at Cinder Cone.{{sfn|Harris|2005|p=94}} In 1859, the ''San Francisco Times'' published an article with testimony from Wozencraft and a companion in which they claimed to have seen flames in the sky from a volcanic eruption from a location west of the Lassen area. Receiving widespread attention, the article was widely reprinted, despite the fact that the account lacked specific dates or locations for their claims. Poking fun at Wozencraft's claims, the ''Shasta Republican'' wrote several times throughout April 1859 that "the Dr.'s imagination is far more active than any volcano in our County or State."<ref name="HowOld?"/> Harkness' 1875 report cites the date of Wozencraft's sighting to be the winter of 1850–1851.<ref name="HowOld?"/>

===Early geologic studies===
[[Image:Joseph S Diller.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The first geologist to study Cinder Cone was Joseph S. Diller (pictured).]]

The first geologist to study Cinder Cone was Joseph Diller.{{sfn|Diller|1891}}{{sfn|Diller|1893|pp=93–96}} One of the first USGS scientists to study volcanoes, Diller took careful notes on Cinder Cone and interviewed many [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] and European trappers and settlers inhabiting the Lassen region during 1850, none of whom remembered volcanic activity there. Aware of an "emigrant road" (the [[Nobles Emigrant Trail]]), which had been utilized by settlers coming to California in the early 1850s, that passes close to the base of Cinder Cone, he interviewed a number of people who "crossed the trail" in 1853.<ref name="HowOld?"/> They noted that a large, solitary willow bush (''[[Salix scouleriana]]'') near the summit of Cinder Cone had not been destroyed by any eruptive activity. The bush is still alive and has not been altered much since.<ref name="HowOld?"/>

Because the willow at the summit of Cinder Cone was already mature in 1853, Diller concluded it was extremely unlikely that an eruption could have occurred there in the winter of 1850.<ref name="HowOld?"/> He also noted that [[tree]]s rooted in volcanic ash erupted from the cone were about 200 years old and that the oldest trees on related lava flows were about 150 years old. Diller believed he recognized two eruptive sequences, which each produced lava flows. However, he thought that only the older eruption was explosive, creating Cinder Cone and the ash deposits. In regard to the explosive eruption, he concluded that "Whatever may be the historical testimony as to the time of the eruption, the geologic evidence clearly demonstrates that it must have occurred long before the beginning of the present century" (before 1800).<ref name="HowOld?"/> Diller therefore speculated that the explosive eruption had occurred between about 1675 and 1700 and that the younger, quiet eruption was "certainly" sometime before 1840.<ref name="HowOld?"/>

On May 6, 1907, both Cinder Cone and Lassen Peak were designated national monuments, administered by the [[National Forest Service]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/lavo/learn/news/nr07_cinder_lassen_nm_100years.htm |title=Cinder Cone and Lassen Peak National Monuments Celebrate 100th Birthday |date=February 28, 2015 |access-date=February 9, 2018 |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |archive-date=February 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210004421/https://www.nps.gov/lavo/learn/news/nr07_cinder_lassen_nm_100years.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Cinder Cone's name was officially recognized by the [[United States Board on Geographic Names]] in 1927.<ref name="gnis"/> In the mid-1930s, USGS volcanologist [[R. H. Finch]] attempted to improve on Diller's work. On the basis of other studies done at Cinder Cone, Finch thought (1) that there had been at least five separate lava-flow events, as suggested by crude, experimental magnetic measurements;{{sfn|Jones|1928|pp=61–65}} (2) that the youngest lava flow was extruded in 1851, accepting Harkness' (1875) historical "evidence" and ignoring Diller's interviews and conclusions; and (3) that there had been at least two distinct explosive eruptions of the cone.{{sfn|Finch|Anderson|1930|pp=245–273}} Using these assumptions and tree-ring measurements, Finch proposed a complex and detailed eruptive chronology for Cinder Cone that spanned nearly 300 years.{{sfn|Finch|1937|pp=140–146}} From measurements of the rings of one particular tree, which showed two periods of slow growth, he thought that the two explosive eruptions occurred in 1567 and 1666. He also concluded that the five lava flows were extruded in 1567, 1666, 1720, 1785, and 1851.<ref name="HowOld?"/>

===New geologic studies===
[[Image:Cinder Cone Lassen geologic map.png|250px|right]]
[[Image:Cinder Cone Lassen geologic map-explanation.png|300px|right]]
After Finch published his work in 1937, few additional studies were done on volcanic hazards in the Lassen area. However, that changed after the [[1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens]] in [[Washington (state)|Washington]]. As a result, the USGS began reevaluating the risks posed by other potentially active volcanoes in the Cascade Range, including those in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Since that time, USGS scientists have been working in cooperation with the National Park Service to better understand volcanic hazards in the Lassen area. As part of this work, the history of Cinder Cone has been reexamined. Most of the features of Cinder Cone have changed little since Harkness first described them in the 1870s, but all of the assumptions on which Finch based his conclusions have now been shown to be incorrect.<ref name="HowOld?"/>

Through new field and laboratory work and by reinterpreting data from previous studies, USGS scientists have shown that the entire eruptive sequence at Cinder Cone represents a single continuous event. Because the orientation of the Earth's magnetic field in northern California during the 1850s is well known and is different from the remnant magnetizations at Cinder Cone, the lava flows there could not have been erupted in 1850 or 1852. Also, there are no discernible differences in the magnetic orientation recorded by any of the Cinder Cone lava flows, and so the flows had to be extruded during an interval of less than 50 years.<ref name="HowOld?"/>

Although paleomagnetic evidence can be used to rule out the 1850s as the age of Cinder Cone, it does not provide an actual age for its eruption. By measuring levels of [[carbon-14 dating|carbon-14]] in samples of wood from trees killed by the eruption of Cinder Cone, USGS scientists obtained a radiocarbon date for the eruption of between 1630 and 1670. Such a date is also consistent with the remnant magnetization preserved in the lava flows. The series of eruptions that produced the volcanic deposits at Cinder Cone were complex and are by no means completely understood. However, the new studies done by USGS scientists refute the purported accounts of an eruption in the early 1850s and confirm Diller's (1891, 1893) interpretation that Cinder Cone erupted in the latter half of the 17th century. They also suggest that the 1666 tree-ring date proposed by Finch (1937) for his "second" explosive eruption at Cinder Cone might actually date the entire eruptive sequence.<ref name="HowOld?"/>{{sfn|Sheppard|Ort|Anderson|Clynne|2009|pp=213–221}}

==See also==
*[[Cascade Volcanoes]]

==References==
{{USGS}}

===Notes===
{{reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{commons and category}}
{{refbegin}}

*{{cite journal |last=Diller |first=J. S. |year=1891 |title=A Late Volcanic Eruption in Northern California and Its Peculiar Lava |journal=United States Geological Survey Bulletin |publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]] |volume=79}}
*{{cite magazine |last=Diller |first=J. S. |year=1893 |title=Our Youngest Volcano |magazine=[[National Geographic]] |publisher=[[National Geographic Partners]] |volume=4 |pages=93–96}}
*{{cite journal |last=Finch |first=R. H. |year=1937 |title=A Tree Ring Calendar for Dating Volcanic Events at Cinder Cone, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California |journal=[[American Journal of Science]] |publisher=American Journal of Science |volume=33 |pages=140–146 |doi=10.2475/ajs.s5-33.194.140}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Finch |first1=R. H. |last2=Anderson |first2=C. A. |year=1930 |title=The Quartz Basalt Eruptions of Cinder Cone, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California |journal=University of California Publications in the Geological Sciences |publisher=University of California |volume=19 |pages=245–273}}
*{{cite book |last=Harris |first=S. L. |title=Fire Mountains of the West: The Cascade and Mono Lake Volcanoes |publisher=Mountain Press Publishing Company |location=Missoula, Montana |year=2005 |edition=Third |isbn=0-87842-511-X |pages=127–132}}
*{{cite book |first=Ann G. |last=Harris |author2=Tuttle,Esther |author3=Tuttle, Sherwood D. |year=1997 |title=Geology of National Parks |edition=Fifth |publisher=Kendall/Hunt Publishing |location=Iowa |isbn=0-7872-5353-7}}
*{{cite journal |last=Harkness |first=H. W. |year=1875 |title=A Recent Volcano in Plumas County |journal=California Academy of Sciences Proceedings |publisher=[[California Academy of Sciences]] |volume=5 |pages=408–412}}
*{{cite journal |last=Heiken |first=G. |title=Characteristics of Tephra From Cinder Cone, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California |journal=[[Bulletin of Volcanology]] |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]] |date=June 1978 |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=119–130 |doi=10.1007/bf02597025 |bibcode=1978BVol...41..119H |s2cid=129896578}}
*{{cite journal |last=James |first=D. E. |date=March 1, 1966 |title=Geology and Rock Magnetism of Cinder Cone Lava Flows, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California |publisher=[[Geological Society of America]] |journal=GSA Bulletin |volume=77 |issue=3 |pages=303–312 |doi=10.1130/0016-7606(1966)77[303:GARMOC]2.0.CO;2 |bibcode=1966GSAB...77..303J}}
*{{cite journal |last=Jones |first=A. E. |year=1928 |title=Magnetism of Cinder Cone Lava Flows. Lassen Volcanic National Park, California |journal=Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Bulletin |volume=16 |pages=61–65}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Sheppard |first1=P.R. |last2=Ort |first2=M.H. |last3=Anderson |first3=K.C. |last4=Clynne |first4=M.A. |last5=May |first5=E.M. |year=2009 |title=Multiple dendrochronological responses to the eruption of Cinder Cone, Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA |journal=[[Dendrochronologia]] |volume=27 |pages=213–221 |doi=10.1016/j.dendro.2009.09.001}}

{{refend}}

{{Shasta Cascade}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cinder Cone And The Fantastic Lava Beds}}
[[Category:Cinder cones of the United States]]
[[Category:Cascade Volcanoes]]
[[Category:Lassen Volcanic National Park]]
[[Category:Subduction volcanoes]]
[[Category:Volcanoes of California]]
[[Category:Cascade Range]]
[[Category:Volcanic fields of California]]
[[Category:Volcanoes of Shasta County, California]]
[[Category:Landforms of Shasta County, California]]
[[Category:Volcanoes of Lassen County, California]]
[[Category:Landforms of Lassen County, California]]
[[Category:Holocene cinder cones]]
[[Category:Quaternary California]]