I've read (I can't remember where) that the Siberian traps ejected enough lava to cover the earth in a layer 10 feet thick. The eruption supposedly occurred 250 million years ago. The statistic implies a smooth distribution which of course wouldn't happen but is presumably meant to give an idea as to the volume of lava. Is the claim true? And by the way, how is a trap different than a volcano?

Michael

The Siberian Traps are flood basalts that erupted 250 million years ago. They cover nearly 300,000 square km. Volumes estimates are roughly 1.5 million cubic kilometers. The surface area of the Earth is 5.1 x 10⁸ square km. If I crunched these number correctly, then the result is 9.6 feet thickness.

We are fortunate that such events are rare in the geologic history of the earth. Climate impacts must be incredible. The Siberian traps eruption is close in time to the greatest mass extinction in earth history.

Traps or flood basalts are a type of volcano. The morphology is very flat. Vents are hard to distinguish.

Sincerely,
Scott Rowland
ed: Robert Peckyno 2006

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