A review of Pangaea dispersal and large igneous provinces – In search of a causative mechanism

Abstract

The breakup of Pangaea was accompanied by extensive, episodic, magmatic activity. Several Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) formed, such as the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) and the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP). Here, we review the chronology of Pangaea breakup and related large-scale magmatism. We review the Triassic formation of the Central Atlantic Ocean, the breakup between East and West Gondwana in the Middle Jurassic, the Early Cretaceous opening of the South Atlantic, the Cretaceous separation of India from Antarctica, and finally the formation of the North Atlantic in the Mesozoic-Cenozoic. We demonstrate that throughout the dispersal of Pangaea, major volcanism typically occurs distal from the locus of rift initiation and initial oceanic crust accretion. There is no location where extension propagates away from a newly formed LIP. Instead, LIPs are coincident with major lithosphere-scale shear movements, aborted rifts and splinters of continental crust rifted far out into the oceanic domain. These observations suggest that a fundamental reappraisal of the causes and consequences of breakup-related LIPs is in order.