Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Jones, A. P. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Meteorite Impacts as Triggers to Large Igneous Provinces

¹ Department of Geological Sciences
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
United Kingdom
Adrian.jones{at}ucl.ac.uk

A meteorite impacting on the surface of the Earth produces not only a crater but also, if the impactor is sufficiently large, high melt volumes. Computer simulations suggest that, in addition to shock-induced melting produced by impact, additional decompression melting of the hot target mantle beneath the crater can produce melt volumes comparable to those found in large igneous provinces (LIPs). The coincidence between the expected frequency of such impact events combined with the similarity in magma volumes of LIPs suggests that large meteorite impacts may be capable of triggering LIPs and mantle hotspots from a point source which is subsequently buried. Can the impact model explain any LIP? What are the distinctive macroscopic criteria predicted from an impact model, and how may they be recognised or rejected in the geological record of the Earth?

KEYWORDS: meteorite impact, decompression melting, mantle, hotspot

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. V. JEANS Clay mineralogy of the Permo-Triassic strata of the British Isles: onshore and offshore Clay Minerals, March 1, 2006; 41(1): 309 - 354. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]