Los Frailes belongs to the Central Andean ignimbrites, which cover parts of southern Peru, southwestern Bolivia, northwestern Argentina and northeastern Chile and which contains the Altiplano-Puna volcanic complex. Ignimbrites do not cover all of the terrain there, however, and in some places there is more than one ignimbrite. Where ignimbrites get emplaced is controlled by crustal fractures and lineaments, which are not always visible on the surface. Some better studied volcanic centres are Galán and Cerro Guacha.