Flood basalt

A vast, thick sequence of basalt lava flows produced by voluminous, usually fissure-fed eruptions across a broad region. These accumulations form large igneous provinces and can reshape landscapes and climate.

Large igneous province: A vast accumulation of igneous rock emplaced over a geologically short interval. Flood basalts are the volcanic component of many large igneous provinces.
Deccan Traps: A Cretaceous flood-basalt province covering much of western and central India. Its eruption near the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary makes it a major case in extinction studies.
Volcanic winter: A period of cooling caused when volcanic aerosols reduce the sunlight reaching Earth's surface. Sulfur-rich emissions can cool the surface during or shortly after eruptive pulses.
Stratovolcano: A steep-sided volcano built from alternating lava flows, ash, and other eruptive deposits. Flood basalts spread from fissures across regions rather than building a single steep cone.
Mantle plume hypothesis: The proposal that buoyant, hot mantle upwellings cause intraplate volcanism and some large igneous provinces. Its role in initiating specific flood-basalt provinces remains debated.
Mantle plume: A buoyant upwelling of unusually hot mantle that can cause extensive melting beneath a tectonic plate. Plume-related melting is one proposed source of the magma feeding major flood-basalt eruptions.
Siberian Traps: A vast flood-basalt province in Siberia, emplaced around the Permian–Triassic boundary. Its eruption coincided with the largest known mass extinction.
Carbon dioxide: A naturally occurring gas that absorbs infrared radiation and participates in the carbon cycle. Volcanic release can contribute to prolonged warming as flood-basalt activity continues.
Mid-ocean ridge: A continuous underwater mountain system where tectonic plates separate and new oceanic crust forms. Both involve basaltic magma, but ridge volcanism is sustained along plate boundaries rather than concentrated in brief continental outpourings.
Lithosphere: Earth's rigid outer layer, comprising the crust and the uppermost mantle. Variations in lithospheric thickness and composition may shape where and how flood-basalt magma rises.

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