Deccan Traps | Volcanoes of India in the Age of Dinosaurs (1.20)
About 67 to 63 million years ago, vast amounts of basaltic lava were spewed out in what is now west-central India. These layers of lava rock have come to be known as the Deccan Traps, and currently stretch from Mumbai to Nagpur (though their current distribution is likely smaller than it originally was due to erosion; originally they could have covered 1.5 million square kilometers (600,000 square miles)).
The most intensive eruptive period occurred between 66.25 and 65 million years ago, corresponding with the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. It has long been implicated by geologists to have had a role in the extinction of the dinosaurs and other contemporaneous animals, as such massive volcanic eruptions are associated with other extinction events in Earth's history. However, some recent hypotheses have associated the increased eruptive period with the asteroid impact of the same time; the Chicxulub crater, the impact crater of the killer asteroid in Mexico, was roughly antipodal (that is to say, on the other side of the world) with India during the Cretaceous period, and the impact could have caused a disturbance in the Earth's mantle that, for lack of better words, came out the other side.
Still, the volcanoes were not constantly active for the whole stretch of time; in fact, in the intervening periods of dormancy life abounded at the foot of the volcanoes. Nutrient-rich volcanic soil provided for vast forests of palms and other trees, and even grass; coprolites (fossilized poop) of dinosaurs preserve fossils from at least five different kinds of grasses, including wild rice. Grass was very rare in prehistoric times and once thought to be completely non-existient during the age of dinosaurs, so this was a landmark discovery when it was first found.
The "Intertrappean Beds", a series of sedimentary rocks interspersed between the volcanic basalts, are where we find the fossils of these plants, as well as the teeth and bones of various kinds of animals including turtles, snakes, mammals, and dinosaurs. It is notable that some of the mammal and non-dinosaur reptile fauna are found on both sides of the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary in the beds, showing that even in what was occasionally a volcanic hellhole some of these animals survived the mass extinction event regardless.
Another interesting thing to note about animal life in and among the volcanoes of the Deccan Traps is how the volcanoes were used by the animals living around them. The eggs of titanosaurs- large, long-necked herbivorous dinosaurs- are found in the Intertrappean Beds and the underlying Lameta Formation, buried in volcanic soil and ash. The ground at these sites is warm, and since a 15-ton dinosaur was far too large to sit on its own nest without crushing the eggs, the titanosaurs used geothermal heat from the volcano itself to incubate their eggs instead. It's also thought that the barren volcanic landscape kept any would-be egg-eaters away; the Lameta Formation (the pre-eruption sandstones) preserves the fossil of the ancient snake Sanajeh, killed and buried in the act of eating dinosaur eggs!
The map itself is 4k x 4k, and survival-friendly for the most part. There's lots of lava down there though, so keep an eye out if you're mining. Trees and dinosaurs are made by yours truly, and the geysers are from here.
The most intensive eruptive period occurred between 66.25 and 65 million years ago, corresponding with the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. It has long been implicated by geologists to have had a role in the extinction of the dinosaurs and other contemporaneous animals, as such massive volcanic eruptions are associated with other extinction events in Earth's history. However, some recent hypotheses have associated the increased eruptive period with the asteroid impact of the same time; the Chicxulub crater, the impact crater of the killer asteroid in Mexico, was roughly antipodal (that is to say, on the other side of the world) with India during the Cretaceous period, and the impact could have caused a disturbance in the Earth's mantle that, for lack of better words, came out the other side.
Still, the volcanoes were not constantly active for the whole stretch of time; in fact, in the intervening periods of dormancy life abounded at the foot of the volcanoes. Nutrient-rich volcanic soil provided for vast forests of palms and other trees, and even grass; coprolites (fossilized poop) of dinosaurs preserve fossils from at least five different kinds of grasses, including wild rice. Grass was very rare in prehistoric times and once thought to be completely non-existient during the age of dinosaurs, so this was a landmark discovery when it was first found.
The "Intertrappean Beds", a series of sedimentary rocks interspersed between the volcanic basalts, are where we find the fossils of these plants, as well as the teeth and bones of various kinds of animals including turtles, snakes, mammals, and dinosaurs. It is notable that some of the mammal and non-dinosaur reptile fauna are found on both sides of the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary in the beds, showing that even in what was occasionally a volcanic hellhole some of these animals survived the mass extinction event regardless.
Another interesting thing to note about animal life in and among the volcanoes of the Deccan Traps is how the volcanoes were used by the animals living around them. The eggs of titanosaurs- large, long-necked herbivorous dinosaurs- are found in the Intertrappean Beds and the underlying Lameta Formation, buried in volcanic soil and ash. The ground at these sites is warm, and since a 15-ton dinosaur was far too large to sit on its own nest without crushing the eggs, the titanosaurs used geothermal heat from the volcano itself to incubate their eggs instead. It's also thought that the barren volcanic landscape kept any would-be egg-eaters away; the Lameta Formation (the pre-eruption sandstones) preserves the fossil of the ancient snake Sanajeh, killed and buried in the act of eating dinosaur eggs!
The map itself is 4k x 4k, and survival-friendly for the most part. There's lots of lava down there though, so keep an eye out if you're mining. Trees and dinosaurs are made by yours truly, and the geysers are from here.
Deccan Traps | Volcanoes of India in the Age of Dinosaurs (1.20) Screenshots
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