tion is perhaps the more familiar. The size, shape, and
structure of volcanoes vary widely with the physical and
chemical characteristics and amount of the emitted material, and
they are classified according to these various factors. Examples
of large volcanic edifices include composite cones and shield
volcanoes. Composite cones are typically steep-sided structures,
some of great beauty like Mayon in the Philippines and Fuji in
Japan. Most large volcanoes associated with compressive plate
boundaries are composite cones. They are built of lava flows
alternating with layers of pyroclastic fall, pyroclastic flow,
and other fragmental material. Shield volcanoes, in contrast,
are broad, gently sloping structures, built of many overlapping
tongues of lava that had great fluidity; Mauna Loa and Kilauea
in Hawaii are examples. Descriptions of these and other volcanic
landforms are in such textbooks on volcanoes as those by
Macdonald (1972), Bullard (1976), Williams and McBirney (1979),
and Decker and Decker (1981).