Volcanic activity in the field commenced in the Late Miocene and after a pause between 3 and 1 million years ago continued into the latest Pleistocene.

Among the better known are the Cascade volcanoes created by subduction off the western coast of North America,[15] which include the caldera of Mount Mazama (created by a large eruption in the early Holocene)[16] as well as stratovolcanoes such as Mount St. Helens and mafic volcanic fields.

[17] Other volcanic centres in the United States are those associated with Yellowstone Caldera and Snake River Plain,[18] those along the margins of the Colorado Plateau,[19] volcanoes linked to the Rio Grande Rift and Jemez lineament,[20] and finally volcanoes in the western Basin and Range Province such as the Cima volcanic field[21] where the crust is extending.

[33] The Black Tank cone is the source of a 2-kilometer (1.2 mi) long lava flow, which at first forms a levee-bound channel and then narrows out into a lobate shape.

Bombs and cinders cover the less eroded cones, which are also sometimes surrounded by base surge deposits.

[33] Erosion has dug gullies and larger valleys in the older cones,[38] including one 150-meter (490 ft) deep gorge.

[41] The volcanic field was emplaced on a basement of Tertiary age, which comprises both crystalline bedrock and thick gravel deposits.

[39] Other rock formations in the area are of Proterozoic–Paleozoic to Mesozoic (Teutonia batholith) age, and the region is considered to be part of the Ivanpah uplift.

[50] The oldest flows have flat or gentle surfaces and their source vents are heavily degraded.

[51] Lava flows are also in part covered by wind-transported or erosional material[6] and desert varnish.

[56] The magma erupted in the field ultimately appears to originate from the lithospheric or asthenospheric mantle with little contribution of crustal components,[57] unlike earlier felsic volcanism.

[60] Before the beginning of the Holocene, the climate was wetter and this facilitated the development of soils on lava flows.

[63] The youngest cone is unvegetated[64] and little vegetation has developed on other recent volcanic vents and lava flows.

[55] An eruption rate of 8 events per 100,000 years and a magma output of 0.001 cubic kilometers per millennium (0.00024 cu mi/ka) has been estimated for the Cima field.

[66] According to potassium-argon dating, volcanic activity started in the Miocene and continued to the end of the Pleistocene.

The final three phases formed lava flows and the volcanoes in the southern part of the field.