Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 11 October 1991:
Vol. 254. no. 5029, pp. 263 - 267
DOI: 10.1126/science.254.5029.263
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

A Mantle Plume Initiation Model for the Wrangellia Flood Basalt and Other Oceanic Plateaus

MARK A. RICHARDS 1, DAVID L. JONES 1, ROBERT A. DUNCAN 2, and DONALD J. DEPAOLO 1

1 Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720
2 College of Oceanography, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331

The vast Wrangellia terrane of Alaska and British Columbia is an accreted oceanic plateau with Triassic strata that contain a 3- to 6-kilometers thick flood basalt, bounded above and below by marine sedimentary rocks. This enormous outpouring of basalt was preceded by rapid uplift and was followed by gradual subsidence of the plateau. The uplift and basalt eruptions occurred in less than sim5 million years, and were not accompanied by significant extension or rifting of the lithosphere. This sequence of events is predicted by a mantle plume initiation, or plume head, model that has recently been developed to explain continental flood volcanism. Evidence suggests that other large oceanic basalt plateaus, such as the Ontong-Java, Kerguelen, and Caribbean, were formed as the initial outbursts of the Louisville Ridge, Kerguelen, and Galapagos hot spots, respectively. Such events may play an important role in the creation and development of both oceanic and continental crust.

Submitted on February 22, 1991
Accepted on July 23, 1991


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
PLUME-RELATED OCEANIC PLATEAUS AS A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF GOLD MINERALIZATION.
F. P. Bierlein and S. Pisarevsky (2008)
Economic Geology 103, 425-430
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A new supercontinent self-destruct mechanism: evidence from the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic.
A. P.M. VAUGHAN and B. C. STOREY (2007)
Journal of the Geological Society 164, 383-392
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Terrane processes at the margins of Gondwana: introduction.
A. P. M. Vaughan, P. T. Leat, and R. J. Pankhurst (2005)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 246, 1-21
   Abstract »    PDF »
Mafic Pegmatites Intruding Oceanic Plateau Gabbros and Ultramafic Cumulates from Bolivar, Colombia: Evidence for a 'Wet' Mantle Plume?.
A. C. KERR, J. TARNEY, P. D. KEMPTON, M. PRINGLE, and A. NIVIA (2004)
J. Petrology 45, 1877-1906
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Origin and evolution of the Ontong Java Plateau: introduction.
J. G. Fitton, J. J. Mahoney, P. J. Wallace, and A. D. Saunders (2004)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 229, 1-8
   Abstract »    PDF »
Modelled palaeolatitudes for the Louisville hot spot and the Ontong Java Plateau.
M. Antretter, P. Riisager, S. Hall, X. Zhao, and B. Steinberger (2004)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 229, 21-30
   Abstract »    PDF »
Rock magnetic results from Ocean Drilling Program Leg 192: implications for Ontong Java Plateau emplacement and tectonics of the Pacific.
X. Zhao, M. Antretter, P. Riisager, and S. Hall (2004)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 229, 45-61
   Abstract »    PDF »
Volatiles in submarine basaltic glasses from the Ontong Java Plateau (ODP Leg 192): implications for magmatic processes and source region compositions.
J. Roberge, R. V. White, and P. J. Wallace (2004)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 229, 239-257
   Abstract »    PDF »
Phreatomagmatic eruptions on the Ontong Java Plateau: chemical and isotopic relationship to Ontong Java Plateau basalts.
R. V. White, P. R. Castillo, C. R. Neal, J. G. Fitton, and M. Godard (2004)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 229, 307-323
   Abstract »    PDF »
The nature and provenance of accreted oceanic terranes in western Ecuador: geochemical and tectonic constraints.
A. C. Kerr, A. C. KERR, J. A. ASPDEN, J. TARNEY, and L. F. PILATASIG (2002)
Journal of the Geological Society 159, 577-594
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mesozoic sedimentary-basin development on the allochthonous Wrangellia composite terrane, Wrangell Mountains basin, Alaska: A long-term record of terrane migration and arc construction.
J. M. Trop, K. D. Ridgway, J. D. Manuszak, and P. Layer (2002)
GSA Bulletin 114, 693-717
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Archaean High-Mg Diorite Suite: Links to Tonalite-Trondhjemite-Granodiorite Magmatism and Implications for Early Archaean Crustal Growth.
R. H. SMITHIES and D. C. CHAMPION (2000)
J. Petrology 41, 1653-1671
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
LIP Reading: Recognizing Oceanic Plateaux in the Geological Record.
A. C. KERR, R. V. WHITE, and A. D. SAUNDERS (2000)
J. Petrology 41, 1041-1056
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Was the Late Triassic orogeny in Turkey caused by the collision of an oceanic plateau?.
A. I. Okay (2000)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 173, 25-41
   Abstract »    PDF »
Polar Standstill of the Mid-Cretaceous Pacific Plate and Its Geodynamic Implications.
J. A. Tarduno, J. A. Tarduno, and W. W. Sager (1995)
Science 269, 956-959
   Abstract »    PDF »
Strontium Isotopic Composition of Mid-Cretaceous Seawater.
B. L. Ingram, B. L. Ingram, R. Coccioni, A. Montanari, and F. M. Richter (1994)
Science 264, 546-550
   Abstract »    PDF »
Plates and Plumes: Dynamos of the Earth's Mantle.
G. F. Davies and G. F. Davies (1992)
Science 257, 493-494
   PDF »
Mantle Plumes and Continental Tectonics.
R. I. Hill, R. I. Hill, I. H. Campbell, G. F. Davies, and R. W. Griffiths (1992)
Science 256, 186-193
   Abstract »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)