Hornito

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title: "Hornito" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["volcanic-landforms"] description: "Conical structure built by lava ejected through the crust of a lava flow" topic_path: "general/volcanic-landforms" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornito" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Conical structure built by lava ejected through the crust of a lava flow ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Chapelle_Rosemont2.JPG" caption="A hornito on the island of [[Réunion"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Mauna_Ulu_hornito.jpg" caption="An example of a hornito on Hawaii that has built lava spatter deposits into a mound over its vent"] ::

A hornito is a conical, or pipe-like, structure built up by lava spattering or being ejected through an opening in the crust of a lava flow. Hornitos are similar to spatter cones but are rootless, meaning they were once sources of lava, but those sources were not directly associated with true vents or magma sources. They are usually created by the slow upwelling of fluid lava through the roof of lava tubes, and are often associated with pahoehoe lavas of basaltic composition. High pressure causes lava to ooze and spatter out. The lava builds up on the surface and solidifies, creating the initial structure. Hornitos can exceed 10 meters in height.

Some classic examples of hornitos have been described, or depicted, from volcanoes including El Jorullo, Mexico, which was visited by Alexander von Humboldt in 1803; Kilauea Hawaii; and Oldoinyo Lengai, Tanzania.

The term hornito comes from the Spanish for 'little oven', a reference to the way that hornitos might appear to "smoke" when they are active.

References

References

1. Larson, Charles V.. (1993). "An Illustrated Glossary of Lava Tube Features".
2. Németh, Károly. (December 7, 2015). "Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms". Springer.
3. (November 10, 1998). "Observations on basaltic lava streams in tubes from Kilauea Volcano, island of Hawai'i". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::