Deformed and dragged red bole horizon near Pune, Maharashtra

摘要

The Deccan Volcanic Province (DVP) is unique in the geology of India because of its prodigious volcanism and its pivotal role in studies of volcanology. The Deccan volcanics have erupted close to the Cretaceous-Tertiary {KIT) boundary at about 65 Ma.It has been estimated that today the Deccan Traps cover an area of 500,000 sq. km in western and Central India, consisting dominantly of subaerial flows of tholeiitic basalts with subordinate picrites, picritic basalts and alkaline basalts1. The emplacement of the Deccan Traps was a discontinuous process and the quiescence periods have been recorded by many intrabasaltic bole beds which are the products of weathering during major hiatus2. Thus bole beds are indeed paleosols formed over; the lava flows they cap and they witness the processes of weathering occurring between emplacements of the successive lava flows. Hence, bole beds can be effectively used to construct the time intervals between successive lava flows in the Deccan Traps3. Intrabasaltic paleosols (fossil soils) are preserved in many of the flood basalt provinces of the world throughout the geological time and until recently, they were studied using primary qualitative methods.