The Sichuan Basin, adjacent to the Emeishan large igneous province (ELIP), is one of the large petroliferous basins in China. The effects of the ELIP on the basin thermal history and hydrocarbon generation have attracted much attentions. A 2D viscoplastic model is applied to simulate the evolution of the Emeishan mantle plume, and then the effects of the plume on the Sichuan Basin are discussed. Constrained by the pre-eruption uplift and volcanic activity, the modeling infers that the initial hemispherical Emeishan plume had a radius of 85–150 km and an excess temperature of 150–300 K. The plume head extended laterally after reaching the bottom of the lithosphere. The plume head-lithosphere interaction led to lithosphere erosion and partial melting atop the plume head. Near the junction between the inner and intermediate ELIP zones, the lithosphere erosion was the most serious and the mantle melting degree was the highest. There the basalt might erupt from the Xiaojing-Qiaojia fault, and flow to the intermediate ELIP zone due to terrain. That can explain the concentration of Emeishan basalts in the intermedia ELIP zone and the abnormal high paleo-heat flow in the southwestern Sichuan Basin. Thermal convection induced in the upper mantle prevented the plume head from spreading beneath the lithosphere, and the lateral extent of the plume head was 1200–1300 km. Only a few unmelted plume materials could reach the central Sichuan Basin, which should be the boundary of the outer ELIP zone. The Permian basalts and high paleo-heat flow anomalies in the central Sichuan basin might be derived from the subsequent lithospheric extension, which led to the upwelling and decompression melting of both the plume and asthenosphere materials. Since the plume head couldn't migrate to the northeastern Sichuan Basin, the surface observations there should be independent of the Emeishan plume. Display omitted •Lateral extent of the Emeishan plume head was predicted to be 1200–1300 km.•The 120 km-thick thermal lithosphere thinned to ~70 km due to plume erosion.•Mantle flow induced in the upper mantle prevent the plume head from spreading.•The farthest reach of the Emeishan plume head was the central Sichuan Basin.