Based on satellite images it was suggested by Wood [5] that cinder cones might occur on other terrestrial bodies in the solar system too. Wichman and Schultz [10] showed a field of 4 larger cinder cones, each of which is 2-5 km in size, and they are located near the edge of the cratered uplands. Like large cinder cones on Earth, most show a lop-sided, horse-shoe like pattern. Wilson and Head [11] showed one likely group of small volcanic cones on Mars. The features of the cones are all less than a kilometer in size, and they are located in the northern lowlands. Each shows a clear central pit, and several lie on or along older faults. They are similar in size to Earth cinder cones, but the central pits are larger. Like Earth cones, they mark the sites of small explosive eruptions.

Recently, cones interpreted as cinder cones on Mars thought to form by explosive volcanism have been detected in the following regions: the southern flank of Pavonis Mons [12,13], Hydraotes Chaos [14], Syria Planum [15], SW Utopia Planitia [16], the volcanic field Ulysses Colles in Tharsis [17]. The Martian equivalents of terrestrial cinder cones were reported as parasitic cones on the flanks of large volcanoes [17-19] or as cone clusters forming volcanic fields [13,15,16,19].

Although the interpretation of these cones as cinder cones was mainly based on their morphological similarity with terrestrial analogues, no detailed investigation of their morphometry was performed to support such conclusion, with a partial exception for the Hydraotes Colles cone field [13] and the Ulysses Colles cone field [16,19,20]. Lanz and Saric [21] have studied a large cone field in SW Elysium Planitia that shows unique characteristics that have, as yet, not been described elsewhere on Mars. According to them pitted cones and cone fields are quite common on Mars and the Elysium Planitia region where they have been mainly interpreted as pseudocraters. The cones in the study area differ from cones elsewhere on Mars in morphology, geologic setting, and their assemblage with pitted ridges as well as their close association to Aeolis Planum–Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF) material.

Lanz et al. [15] analyzed a small cone field in SW Utopia Planitia that shows striking similarities to volcanic rift zones on Earth. This is of particular interest as the study area lies off any of the volcanic centers of Mars in the northern hemisphere lowlands and is embedded in Amazonian-aged Vastitas Borealis (the largest lowland region of Mars) formation material. The most striking characteristics are

a.        A set of broad eruptive fissures showing signs of ongoing extension during cone formation,

b.       Parallel dike swarms,

c.        Magmatic intrusions, and

d.       A number of lava flows that can be seen to have erupted from the fissures and pitted cones aligned along fissures and dikes. Based on stratigraphic analyses and cratering statistics Lanz et al. [15] believe that their study area might represent a “geologic window” to volcanic activity in the northern lowlands pre-dating the extensive resurfacing by VBF units.

Brož and Hauber [16] considered the cinder cones in Ulysses Fossae region in Tharsis on Mars to be probably formed between 0.44 and 1.5 Ga years ago. According to these authors, the mean basal diameter for cones in Ulysses Colles is 2.3 km (1–3.9 km). This is about 2.6 times larger than the basal diameter of terrestrial cinder cones. The crater diameter for the cones ranges from 185 to 1,185 m, with an average of 650 m. The height of cones is on average 230 m (64–651 m), Martian cinder cones higher than terrestrial analogs.

Ghent et al. [22] investigated the distinctive distribution and pattern of subkilometer-sized cones in Isidis Planitia, and their relationship to the material that fills the basin. They observed that:

a.        The cones show uniform size, spacing, and morphology across the entire basin;

b.       They have large central depressions (relative to cone basal diameters) that are generally filled in and commonly show layering;

c.        Cone chains form highly organized spatial patterns; cones are also found in isolation and in dense fields;

d.       Many adjacent chains are parallel, and evenly spaced, creating a pattern that mimics lava flows that have experienced compressional folding;

e.        NO flows are associated with the cones;

f.         The cones are at least temporally related to basin fill;

g.        The basin fill material is largely fine-grained, but with locally indurated layers at shallow depth; and

h.       Relationships between cones along a chain show no systematic temporal formation sequence along the chain. They came to the conclusion that the basin was likely inundated by one or more hot, partially welded pyroclastic flows; devolatilization of these flows remobilized volcaniclastic material to form the cones without associated lava flows.

Brož et al. [20] noted that the cinder cones on Mars did not reach the angle of repose, and therefore their morphological shape preserves a record of environmental conditions at the time of eruption and hence preserves information about ejection velocities (if erosional degradation of these relatively young edifices is considered negligible). This offers an opportunity to examine basic parameters controlling cone formation by numerical modeling more deeply.

Broz et al. [19] analyzed the shapes of 28 hypothesized scoria cones in three regions on Mars, i.e., Ulysses and Hydraotes Colles and Coprates Chasma. Most of the studied cones show larger volumes (up to 4.2 × 109 m3), larger heights (up to 573 m), and smaller average slopes. The average slopes of the Ulysses, Hydraotes, and Coprates cones range between 7° and 25°, and the maximum slopes only rarely exceed 30°. The parameters obtained by these authors for the cones in HC and CC show similar distributions which suggest that both fields were created by the same geological process. According to them the cones in UC, which have been interpreted by Brož and Hauber [16] as scoria (cinder) cones, form an independent trend on morphometric graphs and their characteristics differ from those in HC and CC-the cones are more voluminous and have smaller average slope angles than the cones in the other two regions. The results support the hypothesis that the investigated edifices were formed by low‐energy Strombolian volcanic eruptions (named for the Italian volcano Stromboli) and hence are equivalent to terrestrial scoria cones.

Gilichinsky et al. [23] identified 14 potential cinder cones localized mostly in the Chasma Boreale region within the area 79°–81°N and 261°–295°E. The calculated morphometric parameters showed that the cone average steepness varied from 3.4° to 11.8°, cone height-to-width ratio varied from 0.025 to 0.12, and the ratio between surface and basal area of the cone varied from 1.005 to 1.131. The studied cinder cones were classified with respect to the morphometric ratios assuming that larger values correspond to the younger structures.