in the United States.

In contrast to continental flood basalts, most igneous oceanic plateaus erupt through young and thin mafic or ultra-mafic crust and are therefore uncontaminated by felsic crust and representative for their mantle sources.These plateaus often rise above the surrounding ocean floor and are more buoyant than oceanic crust. They therefore tend to withstand subduction, more-so when thick and when reaching subduction zones shortly after their formations.