Jotabeche is located at the extreme southern end of the Central Volcanic Zone (CVZ) of the Andes. The Central Volcanic Zone is one of the four volcanic zones of the Andean Volcanic Belt. In this belt, ongoing subduction of the Antarctica plate, Nazca plate and its precursor the Farallon plate are responsible for ongoing volcanic activity, including such volcanoes as Villarrica and Nevado del Ruiz. The Central Volcanic Zone sub-belt itself contains about 44 volcanic centres and over five major Quaternary caldera and ignimbrite complexes. The so-called Abancay deflection separates the CVZ in the north from the Peruvian flat subduction segment where no volcanic activity occurs, while the southern limit is marked by a seismic discontinuity around 27° S.