Moses Coulee in the US showing multiple flood basalt flows of the Columbia River Basalt Group. The upper basalt is Roza Member, while the lower canyon exposes Frenchmen Springs Member basalt
A flood basalt (or plateau basalt[1]) is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that covers large stretches of land or the ocean floor with basalt lava. Many flood basalts have been attributed to the onset of a hotspot reaching the surface of the Earth via a mantle plume.[2] Flood basalt provinces such as the Deccan Traps of India are often called traps, after the Swedish word trappa (meaning "staircase"), due to the characteristic stairstep geomorphology of many associated landscapes.
Michael R. Rampino and Richard Stothers (1988) cited eleven distinct flood basalt episodes occurring in the past 250 million years, creating large igneous provinces, lava plateaus, and mountain ranges.[3] However, more have been recognized such as the large Ontong Java Plateau,[4] and the Chilcotin Group, though the latter may be linked to the Columbia River Basalt Group.
Large igneous provinces have been connected to five mass extinction events,[5] and may be associated with bolide impacts.[6]
^Jackson, Julia A., ed. (1997). "flood basalt". Glossary of geology (Fourth ed.). Alexandria, Virginia: American Geological Institute. ISBN 0922152349.
^Mark A. Richards; Robert A. Duncan; Vincent E. Courtillot (1989). "Flood Basalts and Hot-Spot Tracks: Plume Heads and Tails". Science Magazine. 246 (4926): 103–107. Bibcode:1989Sci...246..103R. doi:10.1126/science.246.4926.103. PMID 17837768. S2CID 9147772.
^Michael R. Rampino; Richard B. Stothers (1988). "Flood Basalt Volcanism During the Past 250 Million Years". Science. 241 (4866): 663–668. Bibcode:1988Sci...241..663R. doi:10.1126/science.241.4866.663. PMID 17839077. S2CID 33327812. PDF via NASA[dead link]
^Neal, C.; Mahoney, J.; Kroenke, L. (1997). "The Ontong Java Plateau" (PDF). Large Igneous Provinces: Continental, Oceanic, and Planetary Flood Volcanism, Geophysical Monograph 100. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-01-01.
^Jiang, Qiang; Jourdan, Fred; Olierook, Hugo K. H.; Merle, Renaud E.; Bourdet, Julien; Fougerouse, Denis; Godel, Belinda; Walker, Alex T. (25 July 2022). "Volume and rate of volcanic CO2 emissions governed the severity of past environmental crises". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 119 (31): e2202039119. Bibcode:2022PNAS..11902039J. doi:10.1073/pnas.2202039119. PMC 9351498. PMID 35878029.
^Negi, J. G.; Agrawal, P. K.; Pandey, O. P.; Singh, A. P. (1993). "A possible K-T boundary bolide impact site offshore near Bombay and triggering of rapid Deccan volcanism". Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors. 76 (3–4): 189. Bibcode:1993PEPI...76..189N. doi:10.1016/0031-9201(93)90011-W.
A floodbasalt (or plateau basalt) is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that covers large stretches of land or the ocean...
surface, are basaltic; the lunar maria are plains of flood-basaltic lava flows; and basalt is a common rock on the surface of Mars. Molten basalt lava has...
The Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) is the youngest, smallest and one of the best-preserved continental floodbasalt provinces on Earth, covering over...
continental floodbasalts, oceanic plateaus, large dike swarms (the eroded roots of a volcanic province), and volcanic rifted margins. Mafic basalt sea floors...
Representative continental floodbasalts (also known as traps) and oceanic plateaus, together forming a listing of large igneous provinces: List of Oceanic...
and seven floodbasalts?". Israel Journal of Earth Sciences. 43: 255–266. Courtillot VE, Renne PR (January 2003). "On the ages of floodbasalt events"....
ago. They are part of the massive fissure floodbasalts of the Columbia River Basalt Group. During the basalt eruptions, the southern and western Columbia...
The Madagascar floodbasalt, also known as the Madagascar large igneous province (LIP), is one of the major magmatic events of the Late Cretaceous. They...
magazine or cylinder Caribbean large igneous province, in geology, a major floodbasalt Confirmed line item performance, a measure of the reliability of supply...
a large shield volcano. It consists of numerous layers of solidified floodbasalt that together are more than about 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) thick, cover...
Anisian-Ladinian extinction events. Large volumes of basaltic lava covered a large expanse of Siberia in a floodbasalt event. Today, the area is covered by about...
The Emeishan Traps constitute a floodbasalt volcanic province, or large igneous province, in south-western China, centred in Sichuan province. It is sometimes...
This climate change was probably linked to the eruption of extensive floodbasalts as the Wrangellia Terrane was accreted onto the northwestern end of...
opening of the South Atlantic Ocean), and the Columbia River basalts of North America. Floodbasalts in the oceans are known as oceanic plateaus, and include...
eruptions may be missing from the lists given here. Extinction event List of floodbasalt provinces List of large Holocene volcanic eruptions List of volcanic...
parts of the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It is a wide floodbasalt plateau between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, cut through...
"Southern Cordilleran basaltic andesite suite, southern Chihuahua, Mexico: A link between Tertiary continental arc and floodbasalt magmatism in North America"...
Ontong Java Plateau, are extensive regions of basalts on a continental scale resulting from floodbasalt eruptions. When created, these regions often occupy...
Deccan Plateau, a large igneous province, it consists of solidified floodbasalt dating back to the Cenozoic era. The peak along with the adjoining hills...
Types of trap rock include basalt, peridotite, diabase, and gabbro. Trap is also used to refer to flood (plateau) basalts, e.g. the Deccan Traps and Siberian...
an extraterrestrial impact event in the Yucatán Peninsula, along with floodbasalt volcanism in India. However, the specific mechanisms of the extinction...
volcanoes or floodbasalts, because the less viscous lava can flow for long distances from the vent. The thickness of a solidified basaltic lava flow, particularly...
asthenosphere (or upper mantle) beneath the rift area, forming large floodbasalt or lava flows. Each eruption occurs in only a part of the plate boundary...
the oceans. On land, they are very common at plate boundaries and in floodbasalt provinces. It has been estimated that volcanic rocks cover about 8% of...
scattered hotspots, and also in rare but powerful occurrences known as floodbasalt eruptions. But most magma crystallises at depth, within the lower oceanic...
interval 16.5–15.5 million years ago, in the waning stage of the Steens floodbasalt volcanism. The northwest Nevada calderas have diameters ranging from...
Province are the large Muskox layered intrusion, the Coppermine River floodbasalt sequence and the massive northwesterly trending Mackenzie dike swarm...
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