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Flow-types and lava emplacement history of Rajahmundry Traps, west of River Godavari, Andhra Pradesh

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Journal of the Geological Society of India

Abstract

Rajahmundry Traps has been under geo-scientific investigations for over half a century; yet sketchy information is available on morphology and internal architecture of lavas. This study bridges this gap by describing the morphology of lava pile of Duddukuru area following Hawaiian scheme that relates a lava-type with a particular emplacement style.

The lowest flow (Flow 1) at Duddukuru, overlying an infra-trappean bed is a thick pahoehoe sheet lobe with intermittent basal hummocky, P-type pahoehoe lobes representing slow, sub-aerial emplacement of lava parcels. Some of them also have cherty intercalations and morphology suggestive of possible interaction of lava with water or water-laden sediments. Hummocky lobes were over-ridden by subaerial emplacement of voluminous sheet lava, which developed multi-tier columnar joints probably due to inundation of lava-surface by water. Inter-trappean sediments were deposited above Flow 1 in the ensuing period of volcanic quiescence. The eruptive history of Duddukuru ended with sub-aerial outpouring of two consecutive a’a flows (Flows 2 and 3) separated by a thin red bole horizon.

As pahoehoe lavas are known to travel long distances due to emplacement through thermally efficient mechanism of endogenous inflation and insulated melt transport whereas a’a lavas, in contrast, are cooling-limited flows which rarely attain lengths covered by pahoehoe lavas; it is probable that the pahoehoe and a’a flows of Duddukuru have not traveled comparable distances. A’a flows of Rajahmundry Traps traveling from far-off vents are, therefore, more unlikely despite temporal and chemical similarity of this lava-pile with upper parts of Western Deccan Basalt Group.

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  1. Geological Survey of India, Alandi Road, Pune, 411 006, India

    Bibhas Sen

  2. Geological Survey of India, Arera Colony, Ravi Shankar Nagar, Bhopal, 462 016, India

    A. B. Sabale

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  1. Bibhas Sen
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Sen, B., Sabale, A.B. Flow-types and lava emplacement history of Rajahmundry Traps, west of River Godavari, Andhra Pradesh. J Geol Soc India 78, 457–467 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-011-0111-7

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