Author name: Henrik H. Svensen

Large igneous provinces (LIPs) are characterized by flood basalts and extensive magmatic plumbing systems. When sills and dykes are emplaced in sedimentary basins, the heat released can result in extensive contact metamorphism and gas generation. During the past 20 years, this process has been highlighted as potentially playing a key role in terms of proposed links between LIPs and global environmental changes. The geochemistry of the sedimentary rocks that the magma intrudes, and their potential to generate thermogenic gases such as CO2 and CH4 during heating, are critical controlling factors.

Earth’s history has been punctuated by extraordinary magmatic events that produced large igneous provinces (LIPs). Many LIPs induced global changes, including millennial-scale warming, terrestrial and oceanic mass extinctions, oceanic anoxic events, and even glaciations. Research over the past 20 years has shown that shallow crustal degassing is an important factor contributing to the environmental impact of LIPs. Contact metamorphism in sedimentary basins can generate huge gas volumes, and operates as a function of magma volume and the architecture of LIP plumbing systems. Numerous open questions remain concerning the role of LIPs in triggering rapid and lasting changes, whose answers require collaboration across geoscientific disciplines. In this issue, we present the status of five key research themes and discuss potential ways forward to better understanding these large-scale phenomena.