TheCentral Iapetus magmatic province (CIMP) was alarge igneous province (LIP) that occurred during theEdiacaran (615–550Ma) between several ancient continents –Laurentia andBaltica, and, possibly,Amazonia – during the break-up of the supercontinentRodinia and resulted in the opening of theIapetus Ocean.
With a potential radius of up to 4,500 km (2,800 mi), the CIMP was one of the larger volcanic events on Earth, similar in size to the 200 MaCentral Atlantic Magmatic Province.[1] Evidence for the CIMP has also been found in Mexico, Morocco, and Svalbard.[2]
The CIMP coincides with theMarinoan andGaskiers glaciations and precedes the so-calledCambrian explosion, the evolution of modern lineages.[3]
The CIMP left extensive traces along theAppalachians in eastern North America, to which the Baltoscandian margin is a conjugate. However, no traces of the CIMP have been found in Amazonia, and it is possible that Laurentia and Amazonia separated during 1000 Ma-rifting events.[1]
Four pulses of magmatism associated with the CIMP have been identified:[1]
It is unclear whether the CIMP was a single plume centre event. The first two pulses have a composition indicative of a LIP, while the last pulse containsocean island basalts and can therefore be associated with the opening of the Iapetus Ocean.[1]
