Lascar is located in the altiplano

Altiplano

The Altiplano , in west-central South America, where the Andes are at their widest, is the most extensive area of high plateau on Earth outside of Tibet...

 of the Antofagasta Region

Antofagasta Region

The II Antofagasta Region is one of Chile's fifteen first-order administrative divisions. It comprises three provinces, Antofagasta, El Loa and Tocopilla...

 of northern Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, east of the Salar de Atacama

Salar de Atacama

Salar de Atacama is the largest salt flat in Chile. It is located south of San Pedro de Atacama, is surrounded by mountains and has no drainage outlets. To the east is enclosed by the main chain of the Andes, while to the west lies a secondary mountain range of the Andes called Cordillera de Domeyko...

, immediately west of the Aguas Calientes

Aguas Calientes (volcano)

Aguas Calientes Volcano or Cerro Aguas Calientes, also called Simbad, is a cone-shaped stratovolcano located east of the Lascar volcano and directly north of Laguna Lejía, in Chile's II Region...

 volcano, and to the northeast of Laguna Lejía

Laguna Lejía

Laguna Lejía is a salt lake located in the Altiplano of the Antofagasta Region of northern Chile. The landscape of the area is dominated by the volcanoes Chiliques, Lascar, Aguas Calientes and Acamarachi....

. Other volcanoes in the area include Acamarachi

Acamarachi

Acamarachi, also known as Pili, is a stratovolcano located northeast of the volcanoes Aguas Calientes and Lascar, and southwest of the sector Salar de Pujsa of Los Flamencos National Reserve, in the Antofagasta Region of Chile. The volcano lies on a high plateau called Puna de Atacama.It has a...

, which is dormant or possibly extinct, and Chiliques

Chiliques

Chiliques is a stratovolcano located in the Antofagasta Region of Chile, immediately north of Cerro Miscanti. Laguna Lejía lies to the north of the volcano.The volcano, which has been dormant for at least 10,000 years, is now showing signs of life...

, which has developed a new hot spot

Hotspot (geology)

The places known as hotspots or hot spots in geology are volcanic regions thought to be fed by underlying mantle that is anomalously hot compared with the mantle elsewhere. They may be on, near to, or far from tectonic plate boundaries. There are two hypotheses to explain them...

 in its summit crater beginning in 2002 after a period of at least 10,000 years in dormancy.
The andesitic

Andesite

Andesite is an extrusive igneous, volcanic rock, of intermediate composition, with aphanitic to porphyritic texture. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between basalt and dacite. The mineral assemblage is typically dominated by plagioclase plus pyroxene and/or hornblende. Magnetite,...

-to-dacitic

Dacite

Dacite is an igneous, volcanic rock. It has an aphanitic to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. The relative proportions of feldspars and quartz in dacite, and in many other volcanic rocks, are illustrated in the QAPF diagram...

 stratovolcano contains six overlapping summit craters.