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Could A Flood Basalt Happen

A flood basalt (or plateau basalt) 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.

Doubtless these things will happen again countless times in the Earth’s future, but destroying all life? That’s incredibly unlikely. As expected, supervolcanoessupervolcanoesA supervolcano is a volcano that has had an eruption with a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 8, the largest recorded value on the index. This means the volume of deposits for such an eruption is greater than 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cubic miles).https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › SupervolcanoSupervolcano – Wikipedia were the stars of the show, but while I was glad to see the word ‘Ontong-Java’ in papers like the Daily Mail, flood basalts got just a passing mention.

Flood basalt is formed by an eruption or series of eruptions of large volcanic episodes that cover vast stretches of land or ocean floor with flows of mafic igneous rocks (basalt lava flows). A flood-basalt province is popularly known as Trap (Deccan Traps in India).

“This huge flood basalt event covered an area of more than seven million squared kilometres of basaltic rock, that’s more surface area than all the countries of the European Union combined.

Flood basalt is formed by an eruption or series of eruptions of large volcanic episodes that cover vast stretches of land or ocean floor with flows of mafic igneous rocks (basalt lava flows). A flood-basalt province is popularly known as Trap (Deccan Traps in India).

Can a flood basalt happen again?

Doubtless these things will happen again countless times in the Earth’s future, but destroying all life? That’s incredibly unlikely. As expected, supervolcanoes were the stars of the show, but while I was glad to see the word ‘Ontong-Java’ in papers like the Daily Mail, flood basalts got just a passing mention.

How does flood basalt occur?

Flood basalt is formed by an eruption or series of eruptions of large volcanic episodes that cover vast stretches of land or ocean floor with flows of mafic igneous rocks (basalt lava flows). A flood-basalt province is popularly known as Trap (Deccan Traps in India).

Is Yellowstone A flood basalt?

Supervolcanoes are capable of eruptions dwarfing anything ever recorded by humanity. There are roughly a dozen supervolcanoes on Earth today, one of which sits beneath Yellowstone National Park. Volcanism at Yellowstone is thought to have started with the Steens-Columbia River flood basalts.

Can flood basalts form?

Flood basalt is formed by an eruption or series of eruptions of large volcanic episodes that cover vast stretches of land or ocean floor with flows of mafic igneous rocks (basalt lava flows). A flood-basalt province is popularly known as Trap (Deccan Traps in India).

How many flood basalts are there?

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.

What causes flood basalt eruptions?

Flood Basalts are high volume eruptions that flood vast areas of the Earth, covering broad regions with flat lying lava surfaces. They are said to be the result of mantle convection through hot spots, which occur sporadically in time and place.

Are flood basalts intrusive?

The intrusive bodies in flood basalt provinces are very important in that they are greatly more voluminous than the surface eruptives (estimated by some as constituting 90% of the total magma volume produced), and they provide insights into crustal-lithospheric structure, tectonic stresses, geodynamics and even …

How does flood basalt work?

A flood basalt (or plateau basalt) 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.

What causes basalt flows?

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.

What caused the Columbia River flood basalts?

Over the course of millions of years, tectonic forces caused the Columbia Basin to subside, or sink, at the same time that the CRBs were erupting. This created space for enormous volumes of lava to fill up the Columbia Basin, totaling more than 50,000 cubic miles of basalt.

Is Yellowstone a basaltic eruption?

Yellowstone erupts two different types of magma, rhyolite and basalt.

What is considered a flood basalt?

Flood basalt is formed by an eruption or series of eruptions of large volcanic episodes that cover vast stretches of land or ocean floor with flows of mafic igneous rocks (basalt lava flows). A flood-basalt province is popularly known as Trap (Deccan Traps in India).

What type of rock is Yellowstone Volcano?

The Yellowstone volcano produces rhyolite lava, a silica rich form that solidifies into different types of igneous rock depending on its eruption and cooling conditions. During explosive eruptions, magma is shot into the air, where it instantly solidifies and falls as ash and porous pumice.

What type of lava is Yellowstone?

The most likely type of volcanic eruption at Yellowstone would produce lava flows of either rhyolite or basalt.

Is a flood basalt?

Flood Basalts are high volume eruptions that flood vast areas of the Earth, covering broad regions with flat lying lava surfaces. They are said to be the result of mantle convection through hot spots, which occur sporadically in time and place.

What would happen if a flood basalt eruption?

In human terms, this would be like Iceland’s Laki eruption of 1773 all over again, but on a global scale; livestock would die, people would get breathing problems, structures would become corroded – and in the modern age, most flights would be grounded.

More Answers On Could A Flood Basalt Happen

Flood basalt – Wikipedia

A flood basalt (or plateau basalt) 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.

Could a flood basalt eruption happen again? – Quora

Flood basalts are quite a rare phenomenon. The most famous are the Deccan Traps of India that occurred in Mesozoic times. There now is evidence that these huge eruptions contributed to the dieoff of the dinosaurs, although it seems well established that the Yucatan impact finished them off rather abruptly, the so-called “K-T boundary.”

What Really Happens in a Flood Basalt Eruption

Within days this was blown out of proportion with Strombolian force, and the story became that in 200 million years time, one of two things was going to happen; either a supervolcano would destroy all life on the planet, or a flood basalt would. Doubtless these things will happen again countless times in the Earth’s future, but destroying all life?

Flood Basalt – an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

Flood basalts cover vast stretches of land or ocean floor and occur sporadically throughout geologic time. They have been linked to the initial phases of hot-spot volcanism. Continental flood-basalt eruptions are the largest effusive eruptions on Earth, and volumes of individual lava flows have exceeded 2000 km 3 ( Mahoney and Coffin, 1997 ).

Flood Basalts | Volcano World | Oregon State University

The most famous US example of a flood basalt province is the Columbia River Basalt province, covering most of SE Washington State and extending all the way to the Pacific and into Oregon. The Deccan Traps of NW India are much larger and the Siberian Traps are even larger than that (but poorly understood).

Could humanity survive a large scale flood basalt eruption?

Flood basalt eruptions can be enormous, but they occur over a time period that may be as long as one million years (or longer). As a result, the start of a flood basalt eruption may not begin to affect mankind on a global scale until 50,000 ye Continue Reading Roger Gilmartin , Traveling the world and learning wherever I go

Flood Basalts and Mass Extinctions | Annual Review of Earth and …

Flood basalts were Earth’s largest volcanic episodes that, along with related intrusions, were often emplaced rapidly and coincided with environmental disruption: oceanic anoxic events, hyperthermals, and mass extinction events.

Eruptions of Basalt and Rhyolite – VolcanoCafe

Flood basalts are generally cause by the break up of continental plates, a hotspot, or a mantle plume. It is even possible that some events are composite in origin. Flood basalt form large igneous provinces and are not a single eruption, they are multiple large volume eruptions and lasts for millions of years.

Flood Basalts and Mass Extinctions – Le

A possible scenario is that a single flood basalt eruptive event – more than 1000 cubic km – would erupt a very large mass of sulfur dioxide gas and aerosol, some of which would enter the lower stratosphere. This would reduce the amount of light reaching the Earth’s surface (e.g., Thordarson and Self, 1996; Self et al., 2006).

Basalt – Wikipedia

Flood basalts are thick sequences of many such flows that can cover hundreds of thousands of square kilometres and constitute the most voluminous of all volcanic formations. Basaltic magmas within Earth are thought to originate from the upper mantle. The chemistry of basalts thus provides clues to conditions deep in Earth’s interior . Contents

Twenty-One Reasons Noah’s Worldwide Flood Never Happened

There are at least twenty-one scientific reasons a worldwide flood recounted in the Bible cannot have happened. The stair-stepped appearance of erosion of sedimentary rocks in the Grand Canyon with sandstones and limestones forming cliffs and shales forming gentle slopes cannot happen if all these rocks were deposited in less than one year.

Flood Basalts and Mass Extinctions | Annual Review of Earth and …

Flood basalts were Earth’s largest volcanic episodes that, along with related intrusions, were often emplaced rapidly and coincided with environmental disruption: oceanic anoxic events, hyperthermals, and mass extinction events. Volatile emissions, both from magmatic degassing and vaporized from surrounding rock, triggered short-term cooling and longer-term warming, ocean acidification, and …

The Geological Society of London – Flood basalts … – geolsoc.org.uk

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!

Basalt Rock | Formation, Properties, Composition, Uses

Tholeiitic basalt is relatively rich in silica and poor in sodium. Included in this category are most basalts of the ocean floor, most large oceanic islands, and continental flood basalts such as the Columbia River Plateau. Tholeiitic Basalt Thin Section Tholeiitic basalt High and low titanium basalts.

Flood Basalt Eruption | Alternative History | Fandom

A flood basalt or trap basalt is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that coats large stretches of land or the ocean floor with basalt lava. These eruptions do not produce very much ash. However, they do produce prodigious amounts of greenhouse gases – in particular carbon dioxide.

Flood basalts | AMNH

1st Floor Among the major outpourings of lava are the huge plains known as flood basalt provinces. The Siberian basalts, the Deccan traps of India, and the Karoo basalts of southern Africa are among the largest of these on land; similar vast plains exist in the ocean basins as well. Each province was built up in just a few million years.

flood basalt | geology | Britannica

Other articles where flood basalt is discussed: plateau: Formative processes: lava flows (called flood basalts or traps) and volcanic ash bury preexisting terrain, as exemplified by the Columbia Plateau in the northwestern United States. The volcanism involved in such situations is commonly associated with hot spots. The lavas and ash are generally carried long distances from their sources,…

Basalt: Igneous Rock – Pictures, Definition, Uses & More

Columbia River Flood Basalts: The Columbia River Flood Basalts are an extensive sequence of stacked lava flows that reach a cumulative thickness of up to 6000 feet. The outcrops in the foreground and in the distance of this photo are all made up of layered basalt flows. Although basalt is typically a dark black rock, it often weathers to a …

Siberian flood basalts: The Earth’s largest extinction and climate change.

A volcanic eruption can certainly chemically change the atmosphere, but for years, lots of experts were skeptical about whether flood basalts could do that. Flood basalts lie somewhat outside the …

Mass extinctions of life and catastrophic flood basalt volcanism

Flood basalt episodes may be major causes of climatic and biologic change. Lesser extinctions and paleoclimatic events are correlated with the 55-Mya North Atlantic basalts (with the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum or PETM) and the 183-Mya Karoo basalts (with an Early Jurassic warming and extinction event).

Flood Basalts – Michigan Technological University

Flood Basalts Flood Basalts are high volume eruptions that flood vast areas of the Earth, covering broad regions with flat lying lava surfaces. They are said to be the result of mantle convection through hot spots, which occur sporadically in time and place.

Intrusions induce global warming before continental flood basalt …

Thus, large flood basalt extrusions may only happen when the average overburden density is greater than the magma density. Particularly clear evidence for the importance of crustal density in…

Stop Calling Flood Basalt Provinces a Single “Volcano” or “Eruption”

To call any of these flood basalt provinces a single event is like saying the Last Glacial Maximum (Ice Age) was a big snowstorm or the Pacific Ocean is a single dixie cup of water. Let’s take a look at some of these flood basalts and their extent. The one in the Discovery News article was the Siberian Traps. This flood basalt province (also …

basaltic flows – Geography

Flood basalt flows from even earlier times and their impact on the Earth’s environment are now being looked at as a possible cause for the extinction of the dinosaurs and other forms of life. The eruption of the Deccan flood basalts in India, ten times larger than the Columbia River basalt, occurred at the time the dinosaurs died out 60 million years ago. These tremendous lava eruptions could …

On causal links between flood basalts and continental breakup

The Ethiopian and Yemen flood basalts formed a contiguous province, more than half a million km 2 in extent, prior to opening of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, with an original volume in excess of half a million km 3. Recent 40 Ar- 39 Ar radiometric data cluster between 31 and 28 Ma, with a strong concentration between 30 and 29 Ma. Moreover, magnetic stratigraphy reveals only two reversals …

Stop Calling Flood Basalt Provinces a Single “Volcano” or “Eruption”

The Columbia River Basalts are another prime example of a flood basalt province. My plea is this: stop calling a flood basalt province a singular eruption , singular volcano or singular volcanic …

What Is Basalt? – ThoughtCo

Basalt is the dark, heavy volcanic rock that makes up most of the world’s oceanic crust. Some of it erupts on land, too, but to a first approximation, basalt is an oceanic rock. Compared to the familiar granite of the continents, basalt (“ba-SALT”) is darker, denser and finer grained. It’s dark and dense because it’s richer in the dark, heavy …

Flood Basalt – ralst.com

Flood Basalt By scarimor Doctor Janet Fraiser stared at the gaping wound in Colonel Jack O’Neill’s right thigh. ‘Wow,’ she said. … Nothing appeared to happen for several moments as Janet slipped the scalpel away again. Then a long dark red line emerged on her outstretched hand, widening and flushing brighter as the blood began to flow from the perfect incision. ‘Janet!’ Sam’s shout made them …

Siberian flood basalts: The Earth’s largest extinction and climate change.

A volcanic eruption can certainly chemically change the atmosphere, but for years, lots of experts were skeptical about whether flood basalts could do that. Flood basalts lie somewhat outside the …

flood basalt | geology | Britannica

Other articles where flood basalt is discussed: plateau: Formative processes: lava flows (called flood basalts or traps) and volcanic ash bury preexisting terrain, as exemplified by the Columbia Plateau in the northwestern United States. The volcanism involved in such situations is commonly associated with hot spots. The lavas and ash are generally carried long distances from their sources,…

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