Cordón de Puntas Negras is constructed along the major Calama-Olacapato-El Toro fault: and is long. The volcanic chain intersects with the Cordón Chalviri volcanic chain. Both chains cover a surface area of and contain cones, vents, lava domes, lava flows and maars, including a lava dome and silicic flow with a surface area of . Puntas Negras specifically covers an area of , which runs from the Chiliques volcano on the north to volcán Puntas Negras () almost to the SE. The Puntas Negras Volcano forms the common endpoint of two chains of volcanoes in a V-shaped configuration. The southern leg of the V is called Cordón Chalviri whose other extreme is the Cerro Tuyajto, SW of Puntas Negras and at the same distance SE of the Miñiques volcano. Several small volcanic centres and lava flows are found here, including Aguas Calientes, Cerros Cenizas, Chinchilla and Laguna Escondida which have well preserved craters. The volcanic chain is associated with a topographic anomaly in the region, a property that other volcanoes in the area also have.