The relationships between morphology and spatial distribution of 1315 Quaternary pyroclastic cones and coeval faulting of the volcanic substrate are analyzed in the following regions with different structural settings: Tepic Rift (Mexico), Ethiopian Rift, Mexican Volcanic Belt, Canary Archipelago, and Mount Etna. Field data and analog experiments of tephra cone emplacement and collapse enable the definition of a number of parameters which can be used to infer the geometry of the fracture feeding the magma to a pyroclastic cone. The strike of the feeding plane is directly related to: (1) the elongation of cone base and crater, (2) the location of depressions on the crater rim, and (3) the alignment of pyroclastic cones in relation to a given vent spacing. In addition, the strike and dip of faults affect the direction of cone breaching. These relationships are valid for volcanic substrate topographic surfaces with an inclination of less than 9¿ and are especially sensitive to fault escarpment and cone height, lava and cone density, and fault orientation with respect to the dip of the volcanic substrate topography. Relations 1 and 2 become more pronounced for regions undergoing extensional tectonics, where edifices also have a larger dimension. Whereas breaching in the direction of the fault dip is more widespread in regions under extension, breaching along the fault strike as well as the coincidence between fault strike and vent alignment are more frequent in regions with transcurrent or transtensional tectonics. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1995