Large Igneous Provinces
Continental, Oceanic, and Planetary Flood Volcanism
Geophysical Monograph Series (Series Nr. 100)
1. Edition January 1997
448 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 100.
Continental flood basalts, volcanic passive margins, and oceanic plateaus represent the largest known volcanic episodes on our planet, yet they are not easily explained by plate tectonics. Indeed, some are likely to record periods when the outward transfer of material and energy from the Earth's interior operated in a significantly different mode than at present. In recent years, interest in large-scale mafic magmatism has surged as high-precision geochronological, detailed geochemical, and increasingly sophisticated geophysical data have become available for many provinces. However, the sheer amount of recent material, often in the form of detailed collaborative research projects, can overwhelm newcomers to the field and experts alike as the literature continues to grow dramatically. The need for an up-to-date review volume on a sizable subset of the major continental and oceanic flood basalt provinces, termed large igneous provinces, was recognized by the Commission on Large-Volume Basaltic Provinces (International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior), and the co-editors were charged with organizing and implementing such a volume. We hope that this volume will be valuable to researchers and graduate students worldwide, particularly to petrologists, geochemists, geochronologists, geodynamicists, and plate-tectonics specialists; it may also interest planetologists, oceanographers, and atmospheric scientists.
John J. Mahoney and Millard F. Coffin ix
The Columbia River Flood Basalt Province: Current Status
Peter R. Hooper 1
Evolution of the Red Sea Volcanic Margin, Western Yemen
Martin Menzies, Joel Baker, Gilles Chazot, and Mohamed
Al'Kadasi 29
The North Atlantic Igneous Province
A. D. Saunders, J. G. Fitton, A. C. Kerr, M. J. Norry, and R. W.
Kent 45
Cretaceous Basaltsin Madagascar and the Transition Between Plume
and Continental Lithosphere Mantle Sources
Michael Storey, John J. Mahoney, and Andrew D. Saunders
95
The Caribbean-Colombian Cretaceous Igneous Province:
The Internal Anatomy of an Oceanic Plateau
Andrew C . Kerr, John Tarney, Giselle F. Marriner, Alvaro Nivia,
and Andrew D. Saunders 123
Rajmahal Basalts, Eastern India: Mantle Sources and Melt
Distribution at a Volcanic Rifted Margin
W. Kent, A.D. Saunders, P. D. Kempton, and N. C. Ghose
145
The Ontong Java Plateau
Ciive R. Neal, John J. Mahoney, Loren W. Kroenke, Robert A.
Duncan, and Michael G. Petterson 18
The Parana-Etendeka Province
David W. Peate 217
Stratigraphy and Age o f Karoo Basalts of Lesotho and
Implications for
Correlations Within the Karoo Igneous Province
J. S. Marsh, P . R. Hooper, J. Rehacek, R. A. Duncan, and A. R.
Duncan 247
SiberianT raps
Mukul Sharma 273
Giant Radiating Dyke Swarms:
Their Use in Identifying Pre-Mesozoic Large Igneous Provinces and
Mantle Plumes
Richard E. Ernst and Kenneth L. Buchan 297
Plume/Lithospheret Ineraction in the Generation of Continental
and Oceanic Flood Basalts:
Chemical and Isotopic Constraints
John C. Lassitera nd Donald J. DePaolo 335
Flood Basalts and Magmatic Ni, Cu, and PGE Sulphide
Mineralization:
Comparative Geochemistry of the Noril'sk (Siberian Traps) and
West Greenland Sequences
Peer C . Lightfoot and Chris J. Hawkesworth 357
Emplacement of Continental Flood B asalt Lava Flows
Stephen Self, Thorvaldur Thordarsna, and Laszlo Keszthelyi
381
Large Igneous Provinces: A Planetary Perspective
James W. Head III and Millard F. Coffin 411
