Deccan Traps: Difference between revisions

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The '''Deccan Traps''' is a [[large igneous province]] located in west-central [[India]] and is one of the largest [[volcanic]] features on [[Earth]]. It consists of multiple layers of solidified [[flood basalt]] that together are more than 2,000 m thick and covers an area of [[1 E11 m²|500,000 km²]].

The Deccan Traps formed between 60 and 65 [[geologic timescale|million years ago]], at the end of the [[Cretaceous]] [[Geologic period|period]]. The gasses released in the process may have played a role in the [[extinction]] of the [[dinosaur]]s. Before it was reduced to its current size by [[erosion]] and [[continental drift]], it is estimated that the original area covered by the [[lava|lava flow]]s was as large as 1.5 million km². The volume of basalt is estimated to have been 512,000 km.³

It is postulated that the Deccan Traps eruption is associated with a deep [[mantle plume]] or [[hotspot (geology)|hotspot]]. The plume or hotspot, known as the [[Réunion hotspot]], is suspected of causing both the Deccan Traps eruption and opening the rift that once separated the [[Seychelles]] plateau from India. [[Seafloor spreading]] at the boundary between the Indian and [[African Plate]]s subsequently pushed India north over the hotspot, which now lies under [[Réunion]] island in the [[Indian Ocean]], southwest of India.