What are Large Igneous Provinces?
A large igneous province (LIP) is a large portion of the Earth’s surface covered in magmatic (i.e., igneous) rock, usually basalt but also rhyolite, which erupted in a geologically short period of time, typically a million years. A large igneous province may be hundreds of meters thick, typically covers an area millions of square kilometers in extent, for a total volume of about a million cubic kilometers. Most large igneous provinces are produced by a volcano complex releasing about a cubic kilometer of lava per year (a lot) for at least a million years, though sudden, abrupt super-eruptions may release more than 2,500 cubic kilometers of magma at once. Large igneous provinces are responsible for creating new land around preexisting cratons (continental cores). Two examples include Central America, created through volcanic activity, as well as the Caribbean islands. The whole area around Indonesia is volcanically active, and most of its islands are cooled magma rather than normal crat
Earth history is punctuated by events during which large volumes of mafic magmas were generated and emplaced by processes unrelated to normal sea-floor spreading and subduction. These Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) are best preserved in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic where they occur as continental flood basalts, volcanic rifted margins, oceanic plateaus, ocean basin flood basalts, submarine ridges, and seamount chains. Felsic rocks may also be represented. Many LIPs can be linked to regional-scale uplift, continental rifting and breakup, and climatic shifts. In the Paleozoic and Proterozoic, LIPs are typically deeply eroded. They are represented by deep-level plumbing systems consisting of giant dyke swarms, sill provinces and layered intrusions. In the Archean the most promising LIP candidates are greenstone belts containing komatiites. Large Igneous Provinces of the Circum-Pacific region (in red) emplaced since 250 Ma. From cover of Mahoney, J.J. and M.F. Coffin (eds.), Large Igneous Pro
