Tata Sabaya is a stratovolcano

Stratovolcano

A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a tall, conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile and periodic, explosive eruptions...

 in Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

. It is located at the northern end of the Salar de Coipasa, which lies 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...

. It also lies at eastern end of a line of volcanoes starting with Isluga

Isluga

Isluga is a stratovolcano located in Colchane, 7 km west of the Chile/Bolivia border and at the west end of a group of volcanoes lined up in an east-west direction, which also includes the volcanoes Cabaray and Tata Sabaya. Isluga has an elongated summit area and lies within the borders of...

 in the west, and continuing with Cabaray

Cabaray

Cabaray is a stratovolcano in Bolivia. It lies between the volcanoes Isluga and Tata Sabaya, immediately east of the border with Chile....

. Its last eruption date is unknown, but it is assigned to the Holocene

Holocene

The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...

 due to the youthful appearance of the mountain. Tata Sabaya consists of three separate features. At the base lies a pyroclastic shield

Pyroclastic shield

In volcanology, a pyroclastic shield or terrestrial ignimbrite shield is an uncommon type of shield volcano. Unlike most shield volcanoes, pyroclastic shields are formed mostly of pyroclastic and highly explosive eruptions rather than relatively fluid basaltic lava issuing from vents or fissures on...

, topped by lava dome

Lava dome

|250px|thumb|right|Image of the [[rhyolitic]] lava dome of [[Chaitén Volcano]] during its 2008–2009 eruption.In volcanology, a lava dome is a roughly circular mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano...

s, and finally by a stratovolcano. One of the most spectacular events in the volcano's past was a debris avalanche which covered 300 km² to the south of the mountain. Subsequent eruptions have rebuilt the peak to its current appearance. Particularly recent lava

Lava

Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...

flows lie on the western and north-western flanks of the volcano, and the partial collapse of the summit dome has produced deposits on the south-western flank.

A small active fumarole was observed on the summit of Tata Sabaya in 1995.