The regional climate is extremely arid with annual precipitation reaching about . The occurrence of maars and tuff rings at Pasto Ventura - their formation requires the presence of water - may relate either to past wetter conditions, to the interaction between ascending magma and local or deep aquifers or the fact that Pasto Ventura is located at the margins of the Puna and thus in a moister region. Shorelines around Laguna Pasto Ventura indicate that during the late Pleistocene the climate was wetter than today. Vegetation in the Puna is sparse and consists of short bush.