The Red Cones are a pair of cinder cone

Cinder cone

According to the , Cinder Cone is the proper name of 1 cinder cone in Canada and 7 cinder cones in the United States:In Canada: Cinder Cone In the United States:...

s near Devils Postpile National Monument

Devils Postpile National Monument

Devils Postpile National Monument is located near Mammoth Mountain in extreme northeastern Madera County in eastern California. It was established in 1911, and protects Devils Postpile, an unusual formation of columnar basalt.-Geography:...

, in eastern Madera County

Madera County, California

Madera County is a county of the U.S. state of California, located in the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada north of Fresno County. It comprises the Madera-Chowchilla, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census the population was 150,865...

 of central California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. They are within the eastern Sierra Nevada and Inyo National Forest

Inyo National Forest

Inyo National Forest is a federally administered forest in the United States. The forest covers parts of the eastern Sierra Nevada of California, and the White Mountains of California and Nevada. It contains two wilderness areas: the John Muir Wilderness and the Ansel Adams Wilderness...

.

Volcanic geology

The Red Cones last erupted 5000 years ago, with both cinder eruption (forming the cones), and a basalt

Basalt

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

 flow from the southern cone, which flowed approximately 1.5 kilometre (0.93205910497471 mi) towards the upper Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River

San Joaquin River

The San Joaquin River is the largest river of Central California in the United States. At over long, the river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through a rich agricultural region known as the San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suisun Bay, San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean...

.

The Red Cones are at the southern end of the Mono-Inyo Craters

Mono-Inyo Craters

The Mono–Inyo Craters is a volcanic chain of craters, domes and lava flows in Eastern California that stretches from the northwest shore of Mono Lake to the south of Mammoth Mountain. The chain is located in Mono County in the U.S. state of California...

, the magma

Magma

Magma is a mixture of molten rock, volatiles and solids that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and is expected to exist on other terrestrial planets. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and dissolved gas and sometimes also gas bubbles. Magma often collects in...

for the Red Cones shares its origin with the other Mono-Inyo craters.