Panjal Traps

The Panjal Traps are associated with the opening of the Neo-Tethys Ocean, which resulted in the dispersal of the Cimmerian continental blocks from the north-eastern margin of Gondwana and possibly the break-up of this old and large continent.

[2] The Panjal Traps were first documented in 1824 and were eventually named by British geologist Richard Lydekker in 1883,[3] but their origin, age, and relationship with surrounding and underlying rocks remained elusive for more than a century.

[5] Late Carboniferous to Early Permian deposits of Tethyan affinity in the Zanskar-Spiti area are mostly terrigenous, detrital sedimentary rocks, although some magmatic activity documented in Pakistan and central Nepal has been associated with this period.

[2] The original extent of the Panjal Traps may have exceeded 0.2x106 km2, a distribution similar to those of the Emeishan LIP in south-western China and the Columbia River basalts in north-western United States.

Mantle plume-derived LIPs share features such as large-volume flood basalts, short duration, uplift and doming of the crust before eruption, and high temperature-melts such as komatiites and picrites.