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Large Igneous Provinces: Deccan Traps and Columbia River Basalts

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Petrology

Abstract

Earth has experienced episodic bursts of lava eruption that flooded large areas of continents and oceans in a relatively short time. Such volcanic provinces have been called flood basalt provinces or large igneous provinces (LIP). Continental flood basalts often occur on the tectonically passive edge of the continent; and therefore their origin is considered by some to be related to the continental separation process, as was discussed in Chap. 1 (Fig. 1.12). On the other hand, there are LIPs that have no link to continental separation. In this chapter we take a closer look at two of the well-studied LIP—one of which, the Deccan Traps (India), was involved in continental separation and the other (Columbia River Basalts, USA) was not.

Please note the Erratum to this chapter at the end of the book

An erratum to this chapter can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38800-2_17

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  1. American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

    Gautam Sen

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  1. Gautam Sen
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Sen, G. (2014). Large Igneous Provinces: Deccan Traps and Columbia River Basalts. In: Petrology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38800-2_9

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