Geochemistry and petrogenesis of basalts from the West Siberian Basin: an extension of the Permo-Triassic Siberian Traps, Russia

It seems unlikely that large-scale melting in the WSB was induced through lithospheric extension alone, and additional heating, probably from a mantle plume, would have been required. We argue that the WSB basalts are chemically and therefore genetically related to the Siberian Traps basalts, especially the Nadezhdinsky suite found at Noril'sk. This suite immediately preceded the main pulse of volcanism that extruded lava over large areas of the Siberian Craton. Magma volume and timing constraints strongly suggest that a mantle plume was involved in the formation of the Earth's largest continental flood basalt province.