A notable feature of Cerro Panizos is the presence of so-called orbs, which are rocks with concentric layers of igneous material surrounding them. They are known from plutonic rocks, but orbs in erupted magmas are only known from Akagi volcano, Japan. In Panizos they are found in the upper part of the lower cooling unit of the Cerro Panizos ignimbrite and are associated with pumice and megacrysts in the surrounding rock. Buried within the ignimbrites and lavas, some orbs contain layers of biotite, bronzite, ilmenite and plagioclase around a centimetre-sized xenolith or orthopyroxene core. The layering is not disturbed by irregular shapes of the cores. These orbs most likely formed from material crystallizing around pre-existent cores during rapid changes in magma temperature that occurred shortly before the end of the first phase of the Cerro Panizos eruption through changes in magma water content. Opening of ring vents then delivered the orb-containing magma to the surface.