Flood Basalts

The great continental flood-basalt eruptions of the geological past are the largest eruptions of
lava on Earth, with known volumes of individual lava flows exceeding 2000 cubic kilometres.

For comparison, the ongoing eruption of Kilauea volcano on Hawaii has produced just 1.5 cubic
kilometres in 16 years! A series of these huge eruptions builds up a thick stack of basalt lava
flows as shown in the photograph ...
.. extending over areas of more than a million square kilometres. Flood basalts are one type of
large igneous province (LIP) that characterise the Earth's surface and have been formed at
various times in the geological past - some in a submarine environment and some on land (see
LIP map below). Notable examples are the Siberian Traps and the Deccan Traps (trap is a
Sanskrit word meaning 'step', referring to the step-like topography produced by the stacked
layers of lava). The Columbia River province featured in the above photograph is minute in
comparison to the size of these enormous outpourings of lava.

Large igneous provinces of the World

Mantle Plumes

Large igneous provinces are thought to be caused by the arrival of a mantle plume in the Earth's
outermost layer, the lithosphere. The plumes are proposed to be richer in lighter elements and
hotter than the surrounding mantle. As they rise, magma (liquid rock) is generated by partial
melting of the plume material. The magma is injected into the lithosphere and erupted onto the
Earth's surface to form huge basalt lava flows. The first few million years of a newly arrived
mantle plume seem to be the most fertile in terms of magma production and flood basalts are
therefore formed in a very short period of geological time.
The surface manifestations of mantle plumes are often called hotspots. Plumes are thought to
originate very deep in the Earth - perhaps at the core-mantle boundary for the larger ones and at a
depth of about 600 km deep for the smaller ones - but they seem to be related to the breakup of
continents (rifting), so there is some influence from global plate tectonic processes. (A numerical
simulation of the development of a mantle plume has been developed by Paul Tackley of
UCLA).
A 'snapshot' view of a theoretical situation involving several
plumes in varying stages of development distributed around
the globe is shown in the figure (right), kindly provided by
Paul Tackley of UCLA. This may represent a typical pattern
of plume distribution at any period of geological time.

The estimated dates of the younger continental flood basalts

compiled from recent sources are shown in Table 1. Several
lines of evidence suggest that in most instances the greatest
number of individual eruptions and the largest volumes of
lava probably occurred within a million years or less.
Age
Volume (10E6
Paleolatitude
Province
(Myr)
Km^3)
(degrees)
Columbia River
16 1
0.25
45 N
Ethiopia
31 1
~ 1.0
10 N
North Atlantic
57 1
>1.0
65 N
Deccan
66 1
>2.0
20 S
Madagascar
88 1
?
45 S
Rajmahal
116 1 ?
50 S
Serra Geral/
132 1 >1.0
40 S
Etendeka
Antarctica
176 1 >0.5
50-60 S
Karoo
183 1 >2.0
45 S
Newark
201 1 >1.0?
30 N
Siberian
249 1 >2.0
45 N?
Table 1: Flood Basalt Provinces of the last 250 Myrs

Flood Basalts & Mass Extinctions

Duration
(Myr)
~ 1 (for 90%)
~1
~1
~1
~ 6?
~2
~ 1 or ~ 5?
~ 1?
0.5 - 1
~ 0.6
~1

Every now and again in geology, as in any other science, evidence is obtained and presented that
cannot easily be explained in terms of familiar processes or accepted ideas. Such a case was
continental drift, proposed by Wegener in 1912, which languished as a theory for about 45 years
because there was no logical explanation of HOW continents could move. The mechanism of
seafloor spreading proposed in the late 1950's led to the development of the modern theory of
plate tectonics, which provides an explanation for continental drift.
The time relationship between flood basalt province formation and mass extinctions of
organisms is another example of a scientific "hard nut to crack."
Extinction events are increasingly seen as important factors in the history of life on Earth, and
recent studies suggest catastrophic causes for at least some mass extinctions. Two catastrophic
processes that have been invoked are (1) impacts of asteroids or comets and (2) large volcanic
eruptions. The end-Cretaceous (Cretaceous/Tertiary or K/T boundary) mass extinction has been
convincingly correlated with the impact of a 10-km diameter asteroid with the Earth about 65
million years ago. Evidence of similar impacts has been found at the times of several other
extinction events.
Table 2 compares the LIP ages given in Table 1 with the estimated ages of stratigraphic
boundaries involving significant biotic changes, dated according to the most recent geological
time scale. In at least three cases (the Deccan, Newark, and Siberian flood basalts), a direct
measure of correlation with major extinction events is possible. The probability that three major
volcanic events that typically last ~1 Myr should occur within 1 Myr of major extinction events
during the last 250 Myr (of which there are ~12) is about 10-4. Thinking about the ways in
which these two types of global event might be causally linked is a worthy scientific challenge.
Flood Basalt
Age (Myr)
Stratigraphic Boundary
Age (Myr)
Episode
Columbia River
16 1
Early/Mid-Miocene
16.4
Ethiopia
31 1
Early/Late Oligocene
30
North Atlantic
57 1
Paleocene/Eocene (Thanetian/Selandian) 54.8 (57.9)
Deccan
66 1
Cretaceous/Tertiary
65.0 0.1
Cenomanian/Turonian
93.5 0.2 (89
Madagascar
88 1
(Turonian/Coniacian)
0.5)
Rajmahal
116 1
Aptian/Albian
112.2 1.1
Serra
Jurassic/Cretaceous
142 2.6 (132
132 1
Geral/Etendeka
(Hauterivian/Valanginian)
1.9)
176 1 or 183
Antarctica
(Aalenian/Bajocian)
(176.5 4)
1
Karoo
183 1
Early/Middle Jurassic
180.1 4
Newark
201 1
Triassic/Jurassic
205.7 4
Siberian
249 1
Permian/Triassic
248.2 4.8
Table 2: Flood Basalt Episodes and Faunal Events

Environmental Effects of Flood Basalt Eruptions

If there is a causal link between flood basalt events and mass extinctions, it may lie in the
environmental impact of the gases released, because basalt eruptions are not particularly
explosive. Several kinds of environmental effects have been suggested, including climatic
cooling from sulphuric acid aerosols, greenhouse warming from CO2 and SO2 gases, and acid
rain. Basaltic magmas are often very rich in dissolved sulphur, and sulphuric acid aerosols
formed from sulphur volatiles (largely SO2) are injected into the stratosphere by convective
plumes rising above volcanic vents and fissures.
Indirect environmental effects include changes in ocean chemistry, circulation, and oxygenation,
especially from basaltic volcanism associated with large submarine oceanic plateaus that may
represent flood basalt eruptions in an oceanic environment.
A major uncertainty is the nature and severity of the environmental effects of the eruptions and
their potential impact on life. Although the correlation between some flood basalt episodes and
extinctions may implicate volcanism in the extinctions, it is also possible that other factors lead
to an apparent association. Flood basalt episodes have been attributed to mantle plume activity,
and thus may represent one facet of a host of related global geological factors (eg, changes in
sea-floor spreading rates, rifting events, increased tectonism and volcanism, sea-level variations)
that tend to be correlated, and may be associated with unusual climatic and environmental
fluctuations that could lead to significant faunal changes. It has also been suggested that a
coincidence of both a large impact and a flood basalt eruption might be necessary in causing
severe mass extinctions.

Missing Pieces of the Puzzle

How often do flood basalt lavas occur? It would be desirable to be able to obtain age dates on
individual lavas in a flood basalt pile to determine how often these huge eruptions occurred, but
the dating methods used do not have sufficient accuracy to pinpoint individual flows in time virtually a whole flood basalt field fits within the errors on some of the dates.
Were ancient flood basalts associated with major outgassing? Due to their age and altered state,
the amount and signature of the minor volatile elements in these old lavas will be difficult to
obtain. It is possible to show whether the eruptions degassed vast amounts of sulphur and carbon
dioxide if these species can be measured, as they can in some of the younger lavas such as those
in the Columbia River province. More accurate modelling of dense atmospheric aerosol clouds,
and their effects on atmospheric dynamics and chemistry, is needed before the likely climatic
impact of events such as flood basalts can be properly estimated.