The timing of crustal extension, diking, and eruption of the Deccan flood basalts

A randomly oriented dike swarm in the Western Ghats region has been postula ted to be the feeder dike swarm of the similar to2 km thick sequence expose d in that region of the Deccan province, and interpreted as evidence for th e lack of crustal extension before this major flood basalt event. An enormo us, central shield volcano has also been postulated in the same region base d on flow stratigraphic studies and the randomly oriented dikes. These inte rpretations are subject to numerous objections and the lack of crustal exte nsion before Deccan volcanism is not supported by presently available data. Rift zones of the province and the western Indian continental margin remai n highly probable source areas for large volumes of the Deccan lavas.