Basalt Floods. The theory behind such occurences and the effects and evidence of such floods on the earth.

Basalt Floods Millions of years ago, lava flows poured molten rock over huge areas of the world. These eruptions, known as basalt floods, hurled noxious gases fro Earth's interior into the atmosphere. Toxic clouds ravaged the environment and may have triggered mass extinction. The weathered remains of flood basalt can still be seen around the world. but scientists do not yet understand the cause of such vast eruptions. It is such a mystery that a …

…flows in time - virtually a whole flood basalt field fits within the errors on some of the dates. Geologists still do not agree on the frequency of flood eruptions. They are not even sure if the atmospheric effects woul leave the Earth hotter or cooler. It may take a fresh basalt flood to establish the facts- and if the Deccan eruption did kill the dinosaurs, another black tide would be bad news for us.