Deccan Traps
The Deccan Traps is located in west-central India and is one of the largest volcanic features on Earth. It consists of multiple layers of solidified basalt that together are more than 2,000 m thick, and covers an
area of 500,000 km². The Deccan Traps formed between 60 and 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period, and the gases released in the process may have played a role in the extinction of the dinosaurs. Before it was reduced to its current size by erosion and continental drift, it is estimated that the original area covered by the lava flows was as large as 1.5 million km². The volume of basalt is estimated to have been 512,000 km³.
It is postulated that the Deccan Traps eruption is associated with a deep mantle plume or hot spot. The plume or hot spot caused the continent to break apart, with India drifting north away from the hot spot which now lies under Réunion island.
A large impact crater has been recently reported in the sea floor off the west coast of India. This, the Shiva crater, has also been dated at 65 million years right at the K/T boundary. The researchers suggest that the impact may have been the triggering event for the Deccan Traps as well as contributing to the acceleration of the Indian plate in the early Tertiary.
The planet Venus is also thought to undergo vast basaltic flood eruptions, but on an even greater scale than those at Deccan Traps. It is not known whether the mechanisms are similar; Venus appears to lack Earth's plate tectonics and its internal structure may differ in other ways as well.
