The volcanic centres in the area including Purupuruni are of Miocene to Pliocene age, and appear to be of Pleistocene age. Purupuruni formed during the last 100,000 years and appears to have developed between two interglacials; fission-track dating on glasses from Purupuruni has yielded ages of 53,000 ± 8,000 years ago but more recent surface exposure dating has yielded an age of 5,300 ± 1,100 years before present on one of the southern domes. The volcano is considered to be a low-hazard system and in 2018 the Peruvian Geological Institute announced it would begin monitoring Purupuruni and nine other volcanoes.