Blue Lake Crater is part of the Oregon branch of the Cascade volcanic arc in western North America, though it lies about to the east of the major crest. Despite being located close to a major highway that crosses the Cascades, Blue Lake Crater is considered one of the least-known Holocene volcanoes in the Cascade arc. It fits into a greater geographic trend that includes Belknap Crater, the Cinder Pit volcano to the north, and a chain of spatter cones to the south, which may indicate an underlying fault system or fractures.