Testing the Ontong Java Nui Hypothesis: The Largest Supervolcano Ever on Earth

Abstract

 Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), such as the Ontong Java Plateau (OJP) in the western equatorial Pacific, provide information on mantle processes and composition, and their formation may have global environmental consequences. The OJP is the largest oceanic plateau and is probably the most voluminous igneous edifice on Earth. Despite its importance, the size, volume, and formation rate of the OJP are not yet well constrained. The maximum extent of OJP-related volcanism may be even greater than currently estimated, because volcanological studies indicate that long lava flows (or sills) from the OJP may have reached the adjacent Nauru, East Mariana, and possibly Pigafetta basins. Moreover, the similarity in age and some geochemistry of lavas from the Ontong Java, Hikurangi, and Manihiki plateaus suggests that they once may have been part of a single LIP (Ontong Java Nui, OJN). If true, the massive volcanism may have covered > 1% of the Earth's surface. The lack of detailed knowledge of the size, age, and composition of the OJP has given rise to various models, such as a surfacing mantle plume head, bolide impact, and fusible mantle melting, but no model satisfies all observational data and no consensus has been reached on its origin. The OJP is divided into the High Plateau to the west and the Eastern Salient to the east. The basaltic basement of the OJP was cored at seven sites during Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP Site 289) and Ocean Drilling Program (ODP Sites 289, 803, 807, 1183, 1185, 1186, and 1187) expeditions, but all sites are exclusively located on the High Plateau. In order to examine the true extent of the OJP (i.e., whether the flows in the Nauru, East Mariana, and Pigafetta basins, as well as the Manihiki and Hikurangi plateaus are parts of the OJN), we propose drilling in the Eastern Salient and adjacent basins to recover basement samples. We also propose drilling through the sedimentary section on the Magellan Rise, a small plateau that formed > 20 Myr before the proposed OJN emplacement. Because of its greater age, the sedimentary sequence on the Magellan Rise may preserve ash layers or other chemical tracers that cover the entire eruptive history of OJN. The sediment layers from the Magellan Rise are also useful for evaluating environmental effects of OJN emplacement, including older and younger perturbations related to other LIPs.