Chronology of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province: Implications for the Central Atlantic rifting processes and the Triassic–Jurassic biotic crisis

Abstract

The Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) is among the largest igneous provinces on Earth, emplaced synchronously with or just prior to the Triassic–Jurassic (T–J) boundary ca. 200 Ma. In great part due to the controversial connection between the occurrence of CAMP and the events of the T–J boundary, the demand for better constraints on the duration and eruptive chronology of this province has increased. More than 100 new 40Ar/ 39Ar ages have been published in the last 15 years, with more than half of these in the last 3 years. A careful review and selection of available ages, as well as the publication of 16 new ages from the Carolinas, Newark Basin (USA), French Guyana and Morocco are presented. Judicious selection yields a total of 58 accepted age determinations for CAMP magmatism, ranging from 202 to 190 Ma covering every part of the CAMP. A more complete picture develops with intrusive CAMP magmatism commencing as early as 202 Ma. Extrusive activity initiated abruptly ∼ 200 Ma, reaching peak volume and intensity around 199 Ma on the African margin. The main period of CAMP magmatism is confirmed as brief, but is suggested to consist of at least two phases over ∼ 1.5 Ma, with magmatism commencing along the Africa–North American margins and slightly later along the South American margin. Two volumetrically minor, but distinctive magmatic peaks centered at 195 and 192 Ma are mirrored in data from all three continents and highlighted by our statistical approach. Models describing rifting and thermal input and magma production on these timescales are explored. Despite significant advances in our understanding of the chronology of CAMP, more data of better quality and broader geographical coverage are needed to completely characterize the evolution of the CAMP and infer its geodynamic origin. In addition, lack of a well-defined T–J boundary age, as well as the absence of a relevant basis for comparison between U/Pb and 40Ar/ 39Ar data for this time period remain limiting factors to unambiguously linking CAMP in time with the events of the T–J boundary.