Skagerrak-Centered Large Igneous Province

The Skagerrak-Centered Large Igneous Province (SCLIP), also known as the European-Northwest African Large Igneous Province (EUNWA), and Jutland LIP, is a 300 million year old (Ma) large igneous province (LIP) centered on what is today the Skagerrak strait in north-western Europe (57°50′N 9°04′E, paleocoordinates 11°N 16°E (south of Lake Chad)). It was named by Torsvik et al. 2008.

The SCLIP covered an area of at least 0.5×10^⁶ km² (0.19×10^⁶ sq mi) and includes the Oslo and Skagerrak grabens, areas in south-western Sweden, Scotland, northern England, and the central North Sea. The SCLIP erupted at 297±4 Ma. It produced 228,000 km² of currently exposed volcanic material that can be found in Skagerrak, the Oslo Fjord, central North Sea, North-east Germany; 14,000 km² of sills in Scotland, England, Germany, The Netherlands, and Sweden; and 3,353 km total length of dykes in Scotland, Norway, and Sweden. The period of eruptions comprised a relatively short time span, perhaps less than 4 Ma, but magma propagated more than 1,000 km (620 mi) from the plume centre.

Plumes derived from a superplume (or Large Low Shear Velocity Province (LLSVP)) overlay the boundary of the superplume at the core-mantle boundary (CMB). To test whether the SCLIP met these criteria, Torsvik et al. used a shear-wave tomographic model of the mantle, in which the SCLIP indeed do project down to the margin of the African superplume at the CMB at a depth of 2800 km. A series of LIPs are associated with the African superplume, of which the SCLIP is the oldest: SCLIP (300 Ma), Bachu (275 Ma), Emeishan (260 Ma), Siberian (250 Ma), and Central Atlantic (200 Ma). Its possible that these plumes together caused the break-up of Pangaea and therefore play an important role in the supercontinent cycle.

The SCLIP is associated with the Moscovian and Kasimovian stages of the Carboniferous rainforest collapse around 296-310 Ma together with the Siberian Barguzin-Vitim LIP.

See also

• Avalonia
• List of flood basalt provinces
  • Central Atlantic magmatic province, Late Triassic to Early Jurassic igneous province in the area
  • Central Skåne Volcanic Province, Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous igneous province in southern Sweden

References

Bibliography

• Bryan, S. E.; Ferrari, L. (2013). "Large igneous provinces and silicic large igneous provinces: Progress in our understanding over the last 25 years". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 125 (7–8): 1053–1078. Bibcode:2013GSAB..125.1053B. doi:10.1130/B30820.1. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
• Doblas, M.; Oyarzun, R.; Lopez-Ruiz, J.; Cebriá, J. M.; Youbi, N.; Mahecha, V.; Lago, M.; Pocoví, A.; Cabanis, B. (1998). "Permo-Carboniferous volcanism in Europe and northwest Africa: a superplume exhaust valve in the centre of Pangaea?". Journal of African Earth Sciences. 26 (1): 89–99. Bibcode:1998JAfES..26...89D. doi:10.1016/S0899-5362(97)00138-3. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
• Kravchinsky, V. A. (2012). "Paleozoic large igneous provinces of Northern Eurasia: Correlation with mass extinction events". Global and Planetary Change. 86–87: 31–36. Bibcode:2012GPC....86...31K. doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2012.01.007. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
• Li, Z. X.; Zhong, S. (2009). "Supercontinent–superplume coupling, true polar wander and plume mobility: plate dominance in whole-mantle tectonics" (PDF). Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors. 176 (3): 143–156. Bibcode:2009PEPI..176..143L. doi:10.1016/j.pepi.2009.05.004. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
• Torsvik, T. H.; Smethurst, M. A.; Burke, K.; Steinberger, B. (2008). "Long term stability in deep mantle structure: Evidence from the ~300 Ma Skagerrak-Centered Large Igneous Province (the SCLIP)" (PDF). Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 267 (3): 444–452. Bibcode:2008E&PSL.267..444T. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2007.12.004. Retrieved 3 April 2016.