 Above this formation, another pile of dacitic lava flows constructed the first Ampato edifice, which was about the same size as the present-day volcano.This pile ("Moldepampa stage") is about thick in outcrops and was emplaced between 230,000 - 200,000 years before present.After a pause in volcanic activity and an intermediary stage ("Yanajaja stage"; one date obtained on this stage is 77,000 ± 4,000 years before present) that produced andesitic-dacitic lava flows which form a thick unit on top of eroded remnants of the older Ampato volcanics, the andesitic northern cone formed as the first of the three present-day cones.