Vigorous mantle convection triggered the Cretaceous Pacific large igneous provinces (opens in new tab)

Large igneous provinces (LIPs) in the Pacific Ocean were predominantly emplaced during the Early Cretaceous, which has been suggested to result from either return flow due to increased slab flux, a superplume or plume–ridge interaction. Here we present palaeogeographically constrained mantle flow modelling that links subduction, plume activity and ridge evolution to investigate how the interplay between these processes controls radial heat advection and LIP eruption. Our models show relativel...