The Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) is defined by tholeiitic basalts that crop out in once-contiguous parts of North America, Europe, Africa, and South America and is associated with the breakup of Pangea. ⁴⁰ Ar/ ³⁹ Ar and paleomagnetic data indicate that CAMP magmatism extended over an area of 2.5 million square kilometers in north and central Brazil, and the total aerial extent of the magmatism exceeded 7 million square kilometers in a few million years, with peak activity at 200 million years ago. The magmatism coincided closely in time with a major mass extinction at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary.

Volcanic gases can have devastating impacts on Earth’s environment and life. However, measurement of volatile elements in prehistoric magmas is challenging. We present a new method for determining sulfur contents in magmas using its concentrations in clinopyroxenes and an experimentally determined crystal-melt partition coefficient. Using this method we compared magmatic sulfur contents in the Paraná-Etendeka large igneous province (LIP; South America) and two other similarly sized LIPs, the Central Atlantic magmatic province (CAMP) and the Deccan Traps (India). We found that the CAMP and Deccan Traps, both associated with major extinction events, contained high magmatic sulfur concentrations, up to 1900 ppm. Conversely, the Paraná-Etendeka LIP, lacking significant environmental effects, had substantially lower magmatic sulfur concentrations, less than 800 ppm.