Cirashala
Doriath
Sep 11 2014, 6:38am
Views: 1557
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I just read the section on the Lonely Mountain in my atlas
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and nope- she goes into detail about the geography of the mountain, but not the geology, unfortunately 
But unless Tolkien was a lousy geologist, the mountain HAS to be a volcano, extinct or dormant it has to be- there's no doubt about it. I absolutely adored plate tectonics, and if it weren't for the fact that I choose life (meaning you wouldn't catch me dead inside the cone of a rumbling volcano!) I would have strongly considered vulcanology back when I was trying to decide on a college major.
The Lonely Mountain is a conic or composite volcano (the difference is that conic is comprised of pretty much all rock, whereas composite has layers of rock and ash and sediment comprising it).
It is NOT near any other mountain range, and there are only two things (IIRC) that can cause a mountain to be formed- plate tectonics, in which two or more of the earth's crusts collide and both push up (one up and one down gives us faults, like for example the San Andreas fault in Los Angeles that was responsible for the infamous Northridge earthquakes in 1994- I was in that earthquake, fifty miles away from the epicenter, and nearly got thrown from the top bunk), or as a result of magma hardening into rock layer by layer from volcanic activity.
In order for the Lonely Mountain to have been created by plate tectonics, it would have to be part of a range- the earth's plates aren't small enough to only yield one peak. To illustrate my example- the Misty Mountains, the White Mountains of Gondor, Ered Luin- they were all created by plate tectonics (all in a fairly straight line, clearly indicating a border between two plates). Our real world examples of plate tectonic created ranges include the Swiss Alps, the Rocky Mountains of North America, the Andes of Peru, the Himalayas, etc.
That is NOT to say that mountains in ranges are absent of volcanic activity- in fact, the Ring of Fire around the Pacific Ocean is a prime example of plate tectonic activity that results in volcanic activity as well (Hawai'i, however, is entirely volcanic, as it's located in the middle of the Pacific plate- even still bearing several active shield volcanoes- Mauna Loa and Mount Kilauea among them). And Yellowstone National Park (home of Old Faithful geyser) is actually part of a (technically active due to geysers) supervolcano, and is located in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. And there are about five or six volcanoes in the Cascade Mountain range on the US Pacific coast (one of them being the infamous Mt. St. Helens).
However, a lone mountain must be formed due to magma flowing up through a weak spot in the earth's crust. It cannot be formed by plate tectonics- else there would be a range, not a single peak. As to whether or not it's active, I highly doubt it (dormant maybe, but certainly not active) else the dwarves would not have been able to settle in it twice (technically thrice, if you count reclamation after Smaug) over the span of several hundred years with their old kingdom still intact.
And Bombadil above is quite right- volcanoes are extremely rich sources of minerals and precious metals. The superheated magma is excellent for compressing and superheating carbon to form into diamonds much faster than natural compression, and gold and other precious metals can be found in abundance in old volcanic tunnels. There is a great deal of rich rock in magma, flowing with minerals that compress into gems. This is also why volcanic ash is so good for enriching and fertilizing soil- it's so full of nutrients that people risk living within a mile or two (sometimes closer) of very active volcanoes in desperation for good farmland in many countries.
So yes, I am definitely of the opinion that the Lonely Mountain is either a dormant or extinct volcano (though for the life of me I don't remember how long til a volcano qualifies for extinction- I know it's 50 years of no activity for dormancy (hence why Yellowstone still counts as active due to the geysers, though it hasn't erupted in hundreds of years (thank goodness- they're actually fearing a massive eruption and it would be bad news because it would take out about five or six US states, one of which I live in!  )), but don't recall extinction time- I'm really sick today with an unknown bug I have been battling for nearly a week that's only getting worse and brain doesn't want to work all the way  ).
So I know I'm not Karen Fonstad, nor have I ever pursued geology and vulcanology as a career (despite possessing a keen interest in the subject) but I hope my answer has at least helped a little bit 
(This post was edited by Cirashala on Sep 11 2014, 6:39am)
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