Stratigraphy and correlations in Deccan Volcanic Province, India: Quo vadis?

Abstract

Abstract The Deccan Volcanic Province (DVP) is significant for its eruption close to Cretaceous–Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary. Chemostratigraphy established in its western parts is the foundation of postulated long distance correlations across the province and consequential models of its eruptive history. A critical review of diagnostic parameters used to characterize stratigraphic units shows them to be probabilistic rather than deterministic and therefore, they are ambiguous. We compile the previously overlooked mapping into district-wise altitude-controlled logs across the province. A reappraisal of the chronological and paleomagnetic data for the DVP shows that volcanism was not concurrent across the province and questions the validity of previous correlations. This analysis also shows that at least three separate eruptive phases occurred in disparate parts of the province, spread over ∼7 million years, of which only one preceded the K-Pg boundary. We resurrect an eruptive model involving multiple eruptive centers and endorse a zonal stratigraphy for the DVP. This approach provides a better context for correlations than the prevailing stratigraphy that clubs the entire province into a single entity.