| TYPE OF VOLCANIC FEATURE | TYPE OF ERUPTION | TYPE OF MAGMA | PLATE-TECTONIC SETTING |
| Shield volcano, e.g. Mauna Loa, Kilauea | non-explosive, flowing lava, may have lava fountains | Basaltic; pahoehoe or aa lava | Hot spot, ocean floor |
| Flood basalt or plateau basalt, e.g. Iceland, Columbia Plateau | fissure eruptions on land, lava flowing over broad areas | Basaltic | Hot spot (early stage of development) |
| Cinder cone, e.g. Paricutin, Mexico; Sunset Crater, Arizona; Cerro Negro, Nicaragua | pyroclastic but not necessarily explosive; often occur in groups or "swarms"; may be associated with larger volcanoes but cinder cones are smaller than other volcanoes | Basaltic to andesitic; even if basaltic, magma is cooler and more viscous than examples listed above | Generally on land, various settings; may be associated with areas of incipient continental rifting and uplift, or with last phase of activity in a region of basaltic flows |
| Pillow basalt | underwater eruption | Basaltic | mid-ocean ridge or hot spot |
| Stratovolcano or composite volcano, e.g. Pinatubo, Mt. St. Helens, Krakatoa, Katmai | explosive, with large amounts of ash, pyroclastic flows, some lava flows | Andesitic | convergent boundary, created by partial melting of oceanic lithosphere in subduction zone |
| Caldera, e.g. Taal, Crater Lake, Kilauea and Mauna Loa summit calderas | varies, but generally occurs by collapse of surface above depleted magma chamber | Basaltic, andesitic or rhyolitic; the largest ones are associated with rhyolitic magmas | various |
| Large rhyolite caldera complexes, e.g. Yellowstone (click here for more); Long Valley Caldera, California (click here for more) | highly explosive, huge volumes of pyroclastic debris - world's larges eruptions (none in recorded human history, luckily for us!) | Rhyolite or dacite, forming ignimbrites and welded tuffs | Continental location above hot spot, rift zone or subduction zone, caused by partial melting of continental crust in contact with basaltic or andesitic magma rising from the mantle |