Types of Volcanoes

Composite Cones or Stratovolcanoes


Cinder Cones Domes

Mount Hood, Oregon. One of the major Composite Cones of the Cascade Range. July 19, 2003, view from the southwest

Composite Cones are large volcanoes built by an accumulation of
lava flows and pyroclastic materials of varied compositions,
but primarily those high in silica and therefore more viscous
(i.e. andesite, dacite, and rhyolite).
Mount Hood, deeply eroded by glaciers, bears no summit crater.
Composite cones are normally several thousand meters tall
(thousands of feet).
This example, Mount Hood in northern Oregon towers about 3000 meters (9700 feet) above the surrounding terrain.
Typical of composite volcanoes, Mount Hood has been built by several hundred thousand years of activity.


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LCC Types of Volcanoes, Composite Cones Image #1 10-24-04
Image by David Cordero
dcordero@lcc.ctc.edu