diatreme

thumb|right|Aerial view of the Moses Rock Dike diatreme in San Juan County, Utah

A diatreme, sometimes known as a maar-diatreme volcano, is a volcanic pipe associated with a gaseous explosion. When magma rises up through a crack in Earth's crust and makes contact with a shallow body of groundwater, rapid expansion of heated water vapor and volcanic gases can cause a series of explosions. A relatively shallow crater (known as a maar) is left, and a rock-filled fracture (the actual diatreme) in the crust. Where diatremes breach the surface they produce a steep, inverted cone shape.