Central Atlantic Igneous Province: Origin and Mechanisms of Formation

The paper considers various aspects of the formation of the Central Atlantic Igneous Province. Generation and eruption of enormous bodies of basic magmas over a short time interval (a few million years) are explained by the accumulation of thermal energy beneath the continental lithosphere. The thermal energy was transferred by heated matter or fluid flows from the lower mantle along separate channels or permeable zones and accumulated beneath the continental lithosphere of Pangea over a long period of time (tens of millions of years) over a vast area. The large thickness of the lithosphere hindered melting. A change in the geodynamic regime with the onset of the breakdown of Pangea resulted in extension, formation of linear permeable zones, local decompression, and, as a consequence, in generation and ascent of huge magma bodies along extended linear tectonically weakened zones. The homogeneity of igneous rocks is explained by the short time interval favorable for magma generation, when all the stored thermal energy had been exhausted.