Prindle Volcano facts for kids

Prindle Volcano is a cool, cone-shaped volcano found in eastern Alaska, United States. It's a type of volcano called a cinder cone, which means it's built from bits of hardened lava and ash. This volcano sits near the start of the East Fork of the Fortymile River.

Prindle Volcano looks quite new, even though it erupted a long time ago. Its base is about 900 meters (or 984 yards) wide. It's the most northwestern volcano in a big chain of volcanoes called the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province.

What is Prindle Volcano?

Prindle Volcano is a cinder cone, which is a simple type of volcano. It's shaped like a cone and is made up of small pieces of volcanic rock and ash. These pieces are called cinders. When the volcano erupted, these cinders piled up around the vent, forming the cone shape we see today.

How Prindle Volcano Formed

About 176,000 years ago, during a time called the Pleistocene Ice Age, Prindle Volcano erupted. This eruption created the cinder cone and also sent out a long stream of molten rock, called a lava flow. This lava flow stretched for about 11 kilometers (or 6.8 miles) from the volcano.

The rocks that make up Prindle Volcano pushed through older rocks in a region known as the Yukon–Tanana upland. This upland area has many different kinds of rocks. These include metamorphosed rocks (rocks changed by heat and pressure), sedimentary rocks (formed from layers of sediment), volcanic rocks (from past eruptions), and intrusive rocks (formed underground). Younger granitic rocks from the Cretaceous and Cenozoic eras also cut through these older rocks.

Special Rocks from Prindle

When Prindle Volcano erupted, it didn't just throw out lava and ash. It also brought up special rock pieces from deep inside the Earth. These pieces are called Xenoliths. They are like samples of the Earth's lower crust, giving scientists a peek at what's beneath our feet. Studying these xenoliths helps us understand more about the Earth's structure.