West Sumatra Province is a mountainous district nearly 3,000 metres in elevation made of Paleozoic sedimentary rock and Igneous rock that extends from the active row of volcanoes to the east.

Towering above the eastern side (i.e. the mountain side) of Padang Pariaman are two large volcanoes; Gunung Tandikat stands at 2,347m and Gunung Singalang at 2,877m, together forming twin volcanoes.

Lake Maninjau, located at the north end of Padang Pariaman, is a caldera lake measuring 20 kilometres north–south and 8 kilometres east–west which formed after a large volcanic burst 52,000 years ago.

Today these volcanic products are seen as pyroclastic flow uplands and low relief hills.

[4] Recent earthquakes that occurred along the Great Sumatran Fault that cuts across Sumatra are the series of quakes of 6 March 2007 measuring Mw6.4 and the Mw6.3 earthquake in the vicinity of Singkarak lake, which occurred in eastern Kabupaten Padang Pariaman.