During the last two decades, extensive paleontological research in the main Deccan volcanic province has led to a better understanding of biodiversity close to the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Several infratrappean localities exposed in Jabalpur, Kheda, Balasinor, Rahioli, Dohad, and Bagh in the Narmada Valley (India) preserve one of the most geographically widespread dinosaur nesting sites known in the world. The well-studied intertrappean beds, such as those of Naskal on the southern margin, Asifabad and Nagpur on the eastern margin, Kisalpuri and Mohgaon Kalan on the northeastern margin, and Anjar on the northwestern margin of the main Deccan volcanic province, have yielded Maastrichtian fish ( Igdabatis ) and dinosaur remains and palynofossils ( Aquilapollenites - Gabonisporites - Ariadnaesporites ), either separately or in association, that suggest a Maastrichtian age for these beds. Only two intertrappean sections, Papro on the northern margin and Jhilmili on the northeastern margin of the main Deccan volcanic province, have produced Paleocene fossils. The fossil record from the infratrappean and intertrappean beds demonstrates that the dinosaurs survived the early phase of volcanism, though there was an apparent decline in their diversity, and that freshwater vertebrate fauna was least affected by the initial volcanic activity. The episodic nature of Deccan volcanism may possibly explain the survival of many freshwater and terrestrial communities during the periods of quiescence. In addition, as in the case of the late Maastrichtian sections in eastern Montana, North America, detritus-feeding freshwater vertebrate communities possibly had greater potential for survival than the terrestrial communities dependent on primary productivity. A close examination of the vertebrate faunal distribution across the two stratigraphic intervals (infratrappean and intertrappean) suggests that sampling bias in the infratrappean beds may have also masked the actual diversity of these beds.

Abstract The two Early Acheulian sites of Bori and Morgaon in the Deccan Volcanic Province in Upland Maharashtra, India bear some association with an acidic tephra deposit in a fluvial context. Acheulian artefacts in association with tephra were first reported in India from the Bori site and numerous efforts to date this tephra have since been undertaken. These efforts employed various dating methods and produced a total of 10 absolute dates ranging from the Early Pleistocene with a maximum age of 1.4 Ma to the Late Pleistocene with a minimum age of 23.4 ± 2.4 ka. However, field observations and a typo-technological analysis strongly suggests that these Early Acheulian artefacts occur in a semi-primary context, and thus contest the Late Pleistocene age of the tephra and redeposition of the artefacts as argued by some scholars. At Morgaon, the Acheulian artefacts have been recovered from basal fluvial sediments that contain clasts of laterite. These sediments are capped by two low-energy clay facies that are separated by high-energy gravel lenses. The tephra at Morgaon has been reported from the upper clay facies and has produced absolute dates ranging from the Matuyama period (>0.78 Ma) to the Late Pleistocene (41 ka). After more than two decades of investigation at these sites, the number of absolute dates procured through methods such as electron spin resonance (ESR), 39 Ar– 40 Ar, U–Th and palaeomagnetism, although encouraging, are inconclusive. This paper is therefore an attempt to gauge the nature of the palaeolandscapes that most probably existed during the Early Quaternary. This will be achieved by studying local geomorphological variability between the two sites, along with a preliminary analysis of lithic morphology.

Abstract We review and compare morphologies from continental basaltic lavas, using examples from the Deccan Volcanic Province to compile their internal configurations and mutual associations and compare them. The mechanism of endogenous transfer of lava within an insulating (rapidly developed) crust provides an efficient mode of dispersal of the molten lava in flood basalts. The growth of the lava flow can be achieved by a single extrusion or by multiple pulses of endogenous emplacement that enable the lava to efficiently spread over large areas and thicken. We show that the morphology of a lobe manifests the response of the molten lava to several parameters (including volumetric rate of emplacement, substrate topography, viscosity, vapour loss, etc.) that govern the dynamics and cooling history of basaltic lava after it starts to spread on the surface. The lateral transition from one morphology to another within lobes of a lava flow is a testimony to the interactive response of the lava dynamics and rheology to variation in the local systems in which they were emplaced. The morphologies do not evolve as rigid partitioned categories from ‘áā and pāhoehoe lava types' but as parametric progression of interactive variations in the spreading and cooling lava. A hierarchical recognition of lobes, flows and flow fields and mapping of the morphology (and their lateral transition or continuity) combined with the stacking patterns provides the volcanological framework for a sound stratigraphic mapping of flood basalts. Such an architectural documentation of flood basalt provinces will lead to robust models of their eruptive histories.