It lies south of the Salar de Atacama and was formed 663,000 ± 90,000 years ago by the impact of an IAB meteorite.

Only a few remnants of the meteorite that formed the crater have been collected, with most of the rocks being of local origin.

[6] An old Inka road, which goes from the Pacific Ocean to San Pedro de Atacama and further to Argentina, runs 100–200 m (330–660 ft) from the crater.

[7][8] The crater has been deemed by Stanislav Kaniansky and Kristian Molnár to be one of the "most impressive" in the world[9] and has a high scenic and historical value.

[10] The Chilean Geological Society has defined it as one of the geosites of Chile,[11] although such a classification has no legal effect[12] and the crater is threatened by erosion caused by vehicles and the over-collection of rocks.

[20] The dry climate (the annual precipitation is less than 1 mm (0.039 in)[7]) means that water in the crater tends to evaporate.

[4] The terrain in the area consists of Paleozoic granites that are covered by Pliocene ignimbrites,[24] and slopes northward to the Salar de Atacama, thus explaining the tilt of the crater.

[16] Originally, the Monturaqui crater was connected with the Campo del Cielo[6] or the Rio Cuarto impact structures in Argentina.

[17] The impact heated the ground to temperatures exceeding 1,400 °C (2,550 °F),[29] probably reaching 1,500–1,600 °C (2,730–2,910 °F),[30] and had an energy comparable to that of 2.2 Hiroshima bombs.

[7] They include rocks called "iron shale",[35] they are magnetic indicating their origin in the meteorite.