Extensive 200-Million-Year-Old Continental Flood Basalts of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 284; no. 5414; pp. 616 - 618
• Main Authors: Marzoli, Andrea, Renne, Paul R., Piccirillo, Enzo M., Ernesto, Marcia, Bellieni, Giuliano, de Min, Angelo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 23.04.1999; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Analysis; Argon; Basalt; Crystalline rocks; Data sampling; Earth; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Error rates; Exact sciences and technology; Geochronology; Geology; Heat; Igneous and metamorphic rocks petrology, volcanic processes, magmas; Individualized Instruction; Lava flows; Magmatism; Marine; Plumes; Scientific Concepts; Brazil; ASW, South America; Pangea; ANE, Europe; AS, Central Atlantic; South America; Mesozoic; stratigraphic boundary; Pangaea; volcanic rocks; Atlantic Ocean; mass extinction; igneous rocks; volcanism; volume; Jurassic; Triassic; basalts; paleomagnetism; Ar-40/Ar-39; dating; rifting; Phanerozoic; tholeiitic basalt
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5414.616

The Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) is defined by tholeiitic basalts that crop out in once-contiguous parts of North America, Europe, Africa, and South America and is associated with the breakup of Pangea. $^{40}$Ar/$^{39}$Ar and paleomagnetic data indicate that CAMP magmatism extended over an area of 2.5 million square kilometers in north and central Brazil, and the total aerial extent of the magmatism exceeded 7 million square kilometers in a few million years, with peak activity at 200 million years ago. The magmatism coincided closely in time with a major mass extinction at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary.