Kambalny is part of a group of volcanoes from the late Pleistocene and the Holocene that surround the Kurile Lake caldera. Other volcanoes in that group are Diky Greben, Ilyinsky, Koshelev and Zheltovsky. Kambalny itself is constructed on a ridge which formed in the Quaternary during the uplift of the central part of a trough. This trough is also the site of the Pleistocene Pauzhetka Caldera and Kambalny formed on this caldera rim. The position of Kambalny is also controlled by the margin between the Kurile island arc and the South Kamchatka block.