Pb – Isotopes and Pulses of the Deccan Plume

Abstract:

Mantle plumes are generally implicated for flood basalt generation in both continental and oceanic environments by impact of large plume heads beneath or within the lithosphere. The Deccan and Siberian flood basalt eruptions, synchronous with the Cretaceous-Paleogene and end-Permian extinctions, respectively, continue to fascinate geoscientists in search for the “kill-mechanisms” by impacts, volcanisms or both. Recently, Richards et al. (2015) proposed that bulk of the Deccan eruption was triggered by the Chicxulub impact.

We showed (Basu et al., 1993) that early (68.5 Ma) and late (65 Ma) alkalic pulses of the Deccan were before and after the impact event at 66 Ma. Here, we focus on an extensive volcano-stratigraphic study of Pb isotopic systematics of 69 basaltic samples from 3 subgroups and 12 formations of the Deccan, each sampled from bottom to top along the stratigraphic section, covering the 3km thick 12 Deccan formations. Pb is sensitive to crustal contamination of mantle plume-derived magmas as both the upper and lower mantle are low in Pb (0.02 – 0.15 ppm) compared to ~ 4 ppm in continental crust. The lower Deccan formations of Kalsubai and Lonavala have initial ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb with a widely varying range (16.543 – 22.823) indicating continental crustal contamination. In contrast, the upper formations of the Wai subgroup show a narrow range of 16.883 to 18.956, reflecting the plume signature. In addition, the ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb and ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb data of the Kalsubai subgroup lavas give an isochron age of 2603±140 Ma (single-stage, µ = 8). The Wai subgroup shows a narrow and restricted Pb isotopic range plotting closer to the Geochron. We interpret these data to infer that the basement rocks of the Deccan, the Archean Indian craton, were assimilated by the upwelling melt, ultimately clearing the conduit passages for the lavas sourced from direct melting of the plume head.