Keywords: deccan, mantle, plate, hotspot, reunion, reconstructions.
The Deccan traps of West India, located on the Deccan plateau, the traps are one of the largest volcanic formation on Earth. The traps consist of hundreds of layers of solidified basalt, or igneous volcanic rock, measuring over 6,600 ft thick. The Deccan …show more content…
A way to understand how the underlying mantle have been deeply affecting the flood basalt is to look at it as a process of constant change, that later down the road of history, resulted in the eruption of the Deccan plateau. Due to rapid changes of the Indian plate's velocity, the Deccan eruptions and plate driving forces show that there is a possibility of a mantle plume, an upwelling of abnormally hot rocks within the Earth's mantle, may be the origin of the Deccan continental flood basalt. Geological activity in the Indian ocean has shown possible plume openings for the Deccan continental flood basalt along with other Indian ocean volcanism. Scientists such as Alessandro M. Forte, have researched and have been able to measure the geological activity is through seismic tomographic models, which record the states of the mantles heterogeneity, allowing calculations in order to track past evolution of its heterogeneity. Forte studied thermal evolution of lithospheric mantle structures and was able to verify the geodynamic consistency of the tectonic plate movements, and surface signals such as plate reconstruction. To understand plate reconstructions, Michael Gurnis, explains Plate tectonic reconstructions as “ a description of the continuous evolution of plate boundaries and plate interiors covering the Earth’s surface as a function of time.” Gurnis describes this as plates that are constantly moving because they are continuously evolving over