The basement that Paniri is constructed on consists of both Oligocene-Miocene sediments of the San Pedro formation and ignimbrites of Miocene age which are formed by rhyodacitic and rhyolitic material. Atop this basement Paniri developed together with other volcanoes such as Cerro Chao in a linear volcanic chain, the San Pedro-Linzor complex which is formed by lava flows and pyroclastic flows and whose existence may be due to a tectonic lineament.