Magmatism and the causes of continental break-up / Магматизм и причины разламывания континентов (рифтогенез)

The association between fithospheric extension, continental break-up, mantle plumes and massive bursts of igneous activity is well recognized, but their causal relationship remains controversial. According to active mantle hypotheses, rifting is initiated by doming above a mantle plume. Alternative hypotheses consider magmatism as a passive response to lithospheric stretching and rifting with the chance unroofing of a plume only enhancing lithospheric failure and producing abnormally large volumes of basaltic magmatism. Some models combine aspects of both active and passive hypotheses and it is the arrival of a new plume beneath lithosphere already under tension that causes it to split and form a new ocean. The active and passive hypotheses highlight important differences in the relative timing of rifting, magmatism and uplift. Consequently, this debate should be resolved and the main aim of this volume is to integrate relevant tectonic, geochemical and geophysical data which will lead to a better understanding of the causal relationships between magmatism and continental break-up.

Magma generation and break-up processes

WHrm, R. S. Magmatism during and after continental break-up

ComN, M. F. & ELDHOLM, O. Volcanism and continental break-up: a global compilation of large igneous provinces

MENZmS, M. A. The lower lithosphere as a major source for continental flood basalts: a re-appraisal 

SAUNDERS A. D., STOREY, M., KEwr, R. W. & NORRY, M. 3. Consequences of plume-lithosphere interactions 

GIBSON, S. A., THOMPSON, R. N., LEAT, P. T., DICKIN, A. P., MORRISON, M. A., HENDRY, G.L. & MITCHELL, J. G. Asthenosphere-derived magmatism in the Rio Grande rift, western USA: implications for continental break-up

BAILEY, D. K. Episodic alkaline igneous activity across Africa: implications for the causes of continental break-up

ANDERSON, D. L., Yo-SHEN ZHANG & TANIMOTO, T. Plume heads, continental lithosphere, flood basalts and tomography 

Bcrrr, M. H. P. The stress regime associated with continental break-up 

Early stages of Gondwana break-up

Cox, K. G. Karoo igneous activity, and the early stages of the break-up of Gondwanaland 

STOREY, B. C., ALABASTER, T., HOLE, M. J., PANKHURST, R. J. & WEVER, H. E. Role of subductionplate boundary forces during the initial stages of Gondwana break-up: evidence from the proto-Pacific margin of Antarctica

ELUOT, D. H. Jurassic magmatism and tectonism associated with Gondwanaland break-up: an Antarctic perspective 

BREWER, T. S., HERGT, J. M., HAWKESWORTH, C. J., REX, D. & STOREY, B. C. Coats Land dolerites and the generation of Antarctic continental flood basalts 

RAPELA, C. W. & PANKHURST, R. J. The granites of northern Patagonia and the Gastre Fault System in relation to the break-up of Gondwana 

South Atlantic opening

HAWKESWORTH, C. J., GALLAGHER, K., KELLEY, S., MANTOVANI, M., PEATE, D. W., REGELOUS, M. & ROGERS, N. W. Paran~i magmatism and the opening of the South Atlantic 

WILSON, M. Magmatism and continental rifting during the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean: a consequence of Lower Cretaceous super-plume activity? 

LIGHT, M. P. R., MASLANYJ, M. P. & BANKS, N. L. New geophysical evidence for extensional tectonics on the divergent margin offshore Namibia Northwest Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden

DEVEY, C. W. & STEPHENS, W. E. Deccan-related magmatism west of the Seychelles-India rift

MENZIES, M. A., BAKER, J., BOSENCE, D., DART, C., DAVISON, I., HURFORD, A., AL' KADASI, M. MCCLAY, K., NICHOLS, G., AL'SUBBARY, A. ~ YELLAND, A. The timing of magmatism, uplift and crustal extension: preliminary observations from Yemen

North Atlantic opening

SKOGSEID, J., PEDERSEN, T., ELDHOLM, O.  LARSEN, B. T. Tectonism and magmatism during NE Atlantic continental break-up: the Vering Margin

LARSEN, L. M., PEDERSEN, A. K., PEDERSEN, G. K. & PIASECKI, S. Timing and duration of Early Tertiary volcanism in the North Atlantic: new evidence from West Greenland

GILL, R. C. O., PEDERSEN, A. K. & LARSEN, J. G. Tertiary picrites in West Greenland: melting at the periphery of a plume?

HOLM, P. M., HALD, N. & NIELSEN, T. F. D. Contrasts in composition and evolution of Tertiary CFBs between West and East Greenland and their relations to the establishment of the Icelandic mantle plume

LARSEN, H. C. & MARCUSSEN, C. Sill-intrusion, flood basalt emplacement and deep crustal structure of the Scoresby Sund region, East Greenland

Joy, A. M. Right place, wrong time: anomalous post-fiR subsidence in sedimentary basins around the North Atlantic Ocean