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Earth and Space Sciences · Glossary

What is Large igneous province?

Definition 15.8 University Earth and Space Sciences — Year 1 · Chapter 15 — Hotspots and Intraplate Volcanism

A large igneous province (LIP) is an accumulation of igneous rock, mostly basalt, that is not made by ordinary spreading at a ridge, covers more than 105 km210^{5}\,\mathrm{km}^{2}, holds more than 105 km310^{5}\,\mathrm{km}^{3}, and was emplaced within at most about 50 million years, most of it in pulses of 1 to 5 million years that carry more than three quarters of its volume. On land LIPs are mostly flood basalts; in the oceans, oceanic plateaus.

The Western Ghats near Matheran, India: flat-topped hills cut into a pile of nearly horizontal lava flows of the Deccan Traps, whose resistant layers make the steps of the slopes. Photograph: Nicholas (Nichalp), CC BY-SA 2.5 (Wikimedia Commons).
The Western Ghats near Matheran, India: flat-topped hills cut into a pile of nearly horizontal lava flows of the Deccan Traps, whose resistant layers make the steps of the slopes. Photograph: Nicholas (Nichalp), CC BY-SA 2.5 (Wikimedia Commons).
provinceage (Ma)area (Mkm2\mathrm{Mkm}^{2})first volume (Mkm3\mathrm{Mkm}^{3})
Columbia River160.20.2
Ethiopia–Yemen300.71.2
North Atlantic61 and 561.2more than 2
Deccan65.50.5 (once 1.8)2 to 4
Ontong Java122 and 90244 (whole crust)
Paraná–Etendeka1331.5 (once over 2)more than 2.3
Karoo–Ferrar1833.1more than 2.5
Central Atlantic (CAMP)201once up to 7more than 2
Siberian Traps2500.4 (once over 4)more than 3
Emeishan2590.5 (once 2 to 5)more than 1
Mean ages; areas as they are today, and as first erupted where an estimate exists; volumes of lava as first erupted, except for the Ontong Java Plateau, whose figure counts its whole thickened crust. Data: V. Courtillot and P. Renne (2003).
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