Which type of volcano is small, steep-sided, with a single surface vent and violent eruptions?

• A. Cinder Cone Volcano
• B. Composite Volcano
• C. Caldera
• D. Epicenter

Answer: (A)

Volcano shapes come from how their eruptions deposit material. A cinder cone forms when gas-rich tephra is ejected into the air and falls back around a single vent, piling up into a small, steep-sided cone. The loose ash and volcanic bombs create the sharp slopes, and eruptions tend to be violent but short as the cone rapidly builds around its vent. This combination—small size, steep profile, a single vent, and episodic violent eruptions—fits the description well.

In contrast, a stratovolcano is large with layered lava flows and multiple vents, producing long-lasting but sometimes extremely explosive eruptions and a broader, more complex shape. A caldera is a huge depression formed by the collapse of a magma chamber after a massive eruption, not a small cone. An epicenter is a term from seismology referring to the point on the surface above an earthquake focus, not a volcano type.