The temperature of Licancabur's pre-eruption magma determined the composition of the rocks; it ranges from for dacite to for andesite. Isotope ratios are typical of Central Volcanic Zone volcanoes. There are differences in the elemental composition of andesites and dacites, with the latter resembling adakites more than the former. Antisana (in the Northern Volcanic Zone) and El Negrillar (in the Central Volcanic Zone) are two other volcanoes which have erupted adakites or adakite-like lavas.
