User:ItsPlexiglass/Deccan Traps

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The Deccan Traps are a large igneous province, or LIP, in west-central India (17–24°N, 73–74°E). They are one of the largest volcanic features on Earth, taking the form of a large shield volcano. They consist of numerous layers of solidified flood basalt about 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) thick, that cover an area of about 500,000 square kilometres (200,000 sq mi), and have a volume of about 1,000,000 cubic kilometres (200,000 cu mi). Prior to erosion, the Deccan Traps may have covered about 1,500,000 square kilometres (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.

Etymology[edit]
The term trap has been used in geology since 1785–1795 for such rock formations. It is derived from the Swedish word for stairs (trapp) and refers to the step-like hills forming the landscape of the region. The name Deccan has Sanskrit origins meaning "southern".

History[edit]
The Deccan Traps is believed to have started 68 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, although it is possible that some of the oldest material may underlie younger material. The bulk of the volcanic eruption occurred at the Western Ghats between 65 and 66 million years ago when lava began to extrude through fissures in the crust known as fissure eruptions. This series of eruptions may have lasted for less than 30,000 years.

The original area covered by the lava flows is estimated to have been as large as 1.5 million km2 (0.58 million sq mi), approximately half the size of modern India. The Deccan Traps region was reduced to its current size by erosion and plate tectonics; the present area of directly observable lava flows is around 500,000 km2 (200,000 sq mi).

Theories of formation[edit]
It is postulated that the Deccan Traps eruption was associated with a deep mantle plume. High 3He/4He ratios of the main pulse of the eruption are often seen in magmas with mantle plume origin. The area of long-term eruption (the hotspot), known as the Réunion hotspot, is suspected of both causing the Deccan Traps eruption and opening the rift that once separated the Seychelles plateau from India. Regional crustal thinning supports the theory of this rifting event and likely encouraged the rise of the plume in this area. Seafloor spreading at the boundary between the Indian and African Plates subsequently pushed India north over the plume, which now lies under Réunion island in the Indian Ocean, southwest of India. The mantle plume model has, however, been challenged.

Data continues to emerge that support the plume model. The motion of the Indian tectonic plate and the eruptive history of the Deccan traps show strong correlations. Based on data from marine magnetic profiles, a pulse of unusually rapid plate motion began at the same time as the first pulse of Deccan flood basalts, which is dated at 67 million years ago. The spreading rate rapidly increased and reached a maximum at the same time as the peak basaltic eruptions. The spreading rate then dropped off, with the decrease occurring around 63 million years ago, by which time the main phase of Deccan volcanism ended. This correlation is proposed to have been driven by plume dynamics.

The motions of the Indian and African plates have also been shown to be coupled, the common element being the position of these plates relative to the location of the Réunion plume head. The onset of accelerated motion of India coincides with a large slowing of the rate of counterclockwise rotation of Africa. The close correlations between the plate motions suggest that they were both driven by the force of the Réunion plume.

When comparing the Na8, Fe8, and Si8 contents of the Deccan to other major igneous provinces, the Deccan appears to have undergone the greatest degree of melting suggesting a deep plume origin. Olivine appears to have fractionated at near-Moho depths with additional fractionation of gabbro ~6 km below the surface.

Features such as widespread faulting, frequent diking events, high heat flux, and positive gravity anomalies suggest that the extrusive phase of the Deccan Traps are associated with the existence of a triple junction which may have existed during the Late Cretaceous. Not all of these diking events area are attributed to largescale contributions to the overall flow volume. It can be difficult however, to locate the largest dikes as they are often located towards the west coast and are therefore believed to currently reside underwater.

Geochronology
Determining the exact age for Deccan rock is difficult due to a number of limitations, one being that the transition between eruption events may be separated by only a few thousand years and the resolution of dating methods use is not able to poinpoint these events. In this way, determining the rate of magma emplacement is also difficult to constrain. Conservative estimates suggest that eruptions occurred between 68.5 and 64 million years ago.

Magnetic Reversals
Results of this style of analysis determine an overall eruption duration of <500,000 years.

Stratigraphy
The Deccan traps are segmented into three stratigraphic units: the Upper, Middle, and Lower traps. While it was previously interpreted that these groups represented their own key points in the sequence of events in Deccan extrusion, it is now more widely accepted that these horizons relate more closely to paleo topography and distance from the eruption site.

Petrology[edit]
Within the Deccan Traps at least 95% of the lavas are tholeiitic basalts. Major mineral constituents are olivine, pyroxenes, and plagioclase, as well as certain Fe-Ti-rich oxides. These magmas are <7% MgO. Many of these minerals are observed however, as highly altered forms. Other rock types present include: alkali basalt, nephelinite, lamprophyre, and carbonatite.

Mantle xenoliths have been described from Kachchh (northwestern India) and elsewhere in the western Deccan and contain spinel lherzolite and pyroxenite constituents.

While the Deccan traps have been categorized in many different ways including the three different stratigraphic groups, geochemically the province can be split into as many as eleven different formations. Many of the petrologic differences in these units are a product of varying degrees of crustal contamination.