High Arctic Large Igneous Province

Today, HALIP covers an area greater than 1,000,000 km2 (390,000 sq mi), making it one of the largest and most intense magmatic complexes on the planet.

The igneous rocks formed during the second phase have a similar geochemical makeup as the intra-plate composition.

HALIP dispersed the components of this second continent around the margins of the Arctic Ocean where they are now terranes and microplates embedded into fold belts or overlain by sediments.

[6] The HALIP is widely thought to have originated from a mantle plume, and the igneous activity of the province often tracked along a similar path as the Icelandic hotspot.

In the Svalbard province, the HALIP is expressed as an extensive system of alkaline intrusive doleritic rocks.

The intrusions largely appear in the form of sills that can reach thicknesses of 100 m (330 ft) and continuously extend for up to 30 km (19 mi) laterally.

The basaltic rocks found in Svalbard have an intra-plate composition and are thought to originate from a source near the Alpha Ridge.

[1] The Amerasian Basin's most prominent feature is the Alpha Ridge – which is thought to be the location of the mantle plume that fed the HALIP.

[1] The Barents Sea province is characterized by igneous intrusions with much similarity to Svalbard and Franz Josef Land.

[1] The HALIP, along with other large igneous provinces, is thought to have caused global warming that led to the Cenomanian-Turonian extinction event.

[12][13][14] Late Cretaceous (92–86 Ma) vertebrates, including 2.4 m (7.9 ft) long champsosaurs, a crocodile-like reptile, found in the Canadian Arctic suggests that polar climate was much warmer during the Cretaceous when average annual temperature must have exceeded 14 °C.