Two New Papers on the Timing of the Placement of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province

Marzoli, A., Jourdan, F., Puffer, J. H., Cupponea, T., Tanner, L. H., Weems, R. E., Bertrand, H., Cirilli, S., Bellienia, G., and A. De Minh. 2011. Timing and duration of the Central Atlantic magmatic province in the Newark and Culpeper basins, eastern U.S.A. Lithos 122:175-188. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2010.12.013

Abstract - New major and trace element data and 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages constrain the timing, duration and time-related geochemical evolution of the Central Atlantic magmatic province in the U.S.A. (Newark and Culpeper basins) and refine correlations with basaltic lava flows from other Late Triassic–Early Jurassic circum-Atlantic basins. The precise, statistically robust 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages were obtained on biotite and on fresh plagioclase and calculated using the latest 40K decay constants. These ages are supported by a general consistency of the Ca/K calculated from 37Ar/39Ar of the plateau steps and the Ca/K obtained by detailed electron microprobe analyses on plagioclase phenocrysts. The ages of five analyzed basalt lava flows, from all three lava flow units in the Newark basins, and the ages of two sill samples are indistinguishable, indicating a brief magmatic peak phase at 201.8 ± 0.7 Ma. Recalibrated 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages from the entire province indicate a near-synchronous onset and peak volcanic activity at the Triassic–Jurassic boundary within the circum-Atlantic basins from the U.S.A., Canada and Morocco. The early erupted magmas (Moroccan Lower to Upper basalts, the Fundy basin North Mountain Basalt, and Orange Mountain and equivalent U.S.A. flows) yield an enriched geochemical signature (e.g., with relatively high La/Yb), whereas late magmas in the U.S.A. (Hook Mountain and Hampden basalts) and Morocco (Recurrent basalt) yield relatively depleted geochemical compositions (low La/Yb). A slight, but significant age difference for eruption of Hook Mountain and Hampden basalts (200.3 ± 0.9 Ma) and Recurrent basalts (198.2 ± 1.1 Ma) is interpreted as evidence of a diachronous northward rift–drift transition during break-up of Pangea. Our data indicate also a prolonged intrusive sequence that continued until about 195 Ma at the Palisades sill and is consistent with sporadic late CAMP magmatism for dykes from the south-eastern U.S.A. and for intrusions from Guinea.

Merle, R., Marzoli, A., Bertrand, H., Reisberg, L., Verati, C., Zimmermann, C., Chiaradia, M., Bellieni, G., and M. Ernesto. 2011. 40Ar/39Ar ages and Sr–Nd–Pb–Os geochemistry of CAMP tholeiites from Western Maranhão basin (NE Brazil). Lithos 122:137-151. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2010.12.010

Abstract - The Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP), emplaced at the Triassic–Jurassic (T–J) boundary (~ 200 Ma), is among the largest igneous provinces on Earth. The Maranhão basin in NE Brazil is located around 700 km inland and 2000 km from the site of the earliest Pangea disruption. The CAMP tholeiites occur only in the western part of the basin and have been described as low and high-Ti. Here we document the occurrence of two sub-groups among the high-Ti tholeiites in the Western Maranhão basin. The major and trace elements and the Sr–Nd–Pb isotopic ratios define three chemical groups corresponding to the low-Ti (TiO2 < 1.3 wt.%), high-Ti (TiO2 ~ 2.0 wt.%) and evolved high-Ti (TiO2 > 3 wt.%) western Maranhão basin tholeiites (WMBT). The new 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages obtained on plagioclase separates for high-Ti (199.7 ± 2.4 Ma) and evolved high-Ti WMBT (197.2 ± 0.5 Ma and 198.2 ± 0.6 Ma) are indistinguishable and identical to those of previously analyzed low-Ti WMBT (198.5 ± 0.8 Ma) and to the mean 40Ar/39Ar age of the CAMP (199 ± 2.4 Ma). We also present the first Re–Os isotopic data for CAMP basalts. The low and high-Ti samples display mantle-like initial (187Os/188Os)i ranging from 0.1267 to 0.1299, while the evolved high-Ti samples are more radiogenic ((187Os/188Os)i up to 0.184) We propose that the high-Ti WMBT were derived from the sub-lithospheric asthenosphere, and contaminated during ascent by interaction with the subcontinental lithospheric mantle (SCLM). The evolved high-Ti WMBT were derived from the same asthenospheric source but experienced crustal contamination. The chemical characteristics of the low-Ti group can be explained by partial melting of the most fertile portions of the SCLM metasomatized during paleo-subduction. Alternatively, the low-Ti WMBT could be derived from the sub-lithospheric asthenosphere but the resulting melts may have undergone contamination by the SCLM. The occurrences of high-Ti basalts are apparently not restricted to the area of initial continental disruption which may bring into question previous interpretations such as those relating high-Ti CAMP magmatism to the initiation of Atlantic ridge spreading or as the expression of a deep mantle plume. We propose that the CAMP magmatism in the Maranhão basin may be attributed to local hotter mantle conditions due to the combined effects of edge-driven convection and large-scale mantle warming under the Pangea supercontinent. The involvement of a mantle-plume with asthenosphere-like isotopic characteristics cannot be ruled out either as one of the main source components of the WMBT or as a heat supplier.