Petrology, geochemistry and geochronology of the Deccan and Siberian
Flood Basalts will be discussed, along with their synchronisms with
the mass extinctions at the K/T and P/T boundaries, respectively.
Origin of these flood basalts by deep mantle plume volcanism will
also be discussed in light of He-isotope and other geochemical tracer
studies. Recent work on the discovery of meteorite fragments and
spherules from the P/T boundary in Antarctica, and also Meishan in
China, will be described with a brief summary of the potential
evidence for a P/T impact crater off the coast in NW Australia. Are
these synchronisms of flood basalt eruptions and impacts related by
some causal mechanism?