Oceanic plateau

An oceanic plateau is a broad, elevated region of oceanic crust, commonly built by large volumes of basaltic lava. Many formed during brief episodes of unusually intense volcanism.

Large igneous province: A vast accumulation of mainly igneous rock produced by exceptionally large magmatic events. Oceanic plateaus are submarine examples of this broader class of magmatic province.
Ontong Java Plateau: A vast western Pacific oceanic plateau formed mainly during the Early Cretaceous. It is the largest known oceanic plateau and a leading example of massive submarine volcanism.
Large igneous province formation: The geological processes that produce exceptionally extensive, rapidly emplaced igneous provinces. These processes provide the framework for explaining how oceanic plateaus acquire immense volumes of basalt.
Subduction: The descent of one tectonic plate beneath another into Earth's mantle. Thick plateau crust can resist sinking and change how a subduction zone evolves.
Flood basalt: A thick sequence of basalt flows erupted across a large area over a geologically brief interval. Repeated basalt flows can construct the thick crust underlying an oceanic plateau.
Kerguelen Plateau: A large igneous province in the southern Indian Ocean, partly submerged and partly exposed as islands. Its long volcanic history records plateau growth alongside later magmatism and continental fragments.
Hotspot volcanism: Volcanism caused by localized mantle melting that persists as a tectonic plate moves above it. A hotspot track can accompany plateau formation and help constrain plate motion.
Accreted terrane: A crustal fragment attached to a continent after being transported by a tectonic plate. Plateau fragments can be scraped from oceanic plates and added to continental margins.
Mantle plume: A proposed rising column of unusually hot mantle that can generate extensive melting beneath the lithosphere. Plume-related melting is one explanation for the large magma volumes that build some plateaus.
Shatsky Rise: A large volcanic plateau in the northwest Pacific, formed near a triple junction in the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. Its volcanic ridges preserve evidence linking plateau formation to a spreading-ridge junction.

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