Deccan Traps

The Deccan Traps are a large igneous province of west-central India (17–24°N, 73–74°E). They are one of the largest volcanic features on Earth, with lava erupted from multiple volcanic centres. The Traps consist of many layers of solidified flood basalt that together are more than about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) thick, cover an area of about 500,000 square kilometres (200,000 sq mi), and have a volume of about 1 million km3 (200,000 cu mi). Originally, the Deccan Traps may have covered about 1.5 million km2 (600,000 sq mi), with a correspondingly larger original volume. This volume overlies the Archean age Indian Shield, which is likely the lithology the province passed through during eruption. The province is commonly divided into four subprovinces: the main Deccan, the Malwa Plateau, the Mandla Lobe and the Saurashtran Plateau. The eruptions occurred over a 600,000-to-800,000-year time period between around 66.3 to 65.6 million years ago, spanning the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. While some authors initially suggested the eruptions were a major cause of the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction event at roughly the same time, this theory has been rejected as a result of research into the Chicxulub impact, now thought to be the primary cause of the extinction. While some scholars continue to argue the eruptions may have contributed, it is now generally accepted that the Deccan eruptions played a minor role at most or may have even partially negated the effects of the impact. The Deccan Traps are thought to have been produced in major part by the still active Réunion hotspot, responsible for the creation of the modern Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean.