Volcanic eruptions at Uturuncu were effusive and involved the emission of voluminous lava flows () between pauses lasting between 50,000 and 180,000 years, with a mean eruption rate of less than -, much less than other rhyolitic volcanoes. There is no evidence of large ignimbrite eruptions nor of large flank collapses but some lavas may have interacted with water or ice as they were erupted and were reportedly emplaced over moraines.