Putorana and Mauritius – could there be a connection, or is it a trap?!

Question: what does the monumentally massive Putorana Plateau have in common with… the Indian Ocean? Rather – some of the islands located in it ->

Yes – for example, Mauritius (been) and Réunion. Well, I have a theory – a hypothesis – about how they may be connected to Putorana…

Under Réunion (a French colony department), there currently happens to be situated a hotspot – a small area under the (Indian) lithospheric (tectonic) plate where the underground magma for some reason comes real close to the surface of the plate. When the hotspot punched through the plate, Réunion came into being (this is millions of years ago, of course). And that’s how plenty of other islands and archipelagos and atolls in the Indian Ocean were created, including Mauritius and Maldives. The plate slowly moved (for millions of years) over the hotspot, and every dozen million years or so – another punch-through and another new island!

Ok. That’s the islands covered. Now for some land-based volcanism to continue the theme…

On the west coast of India (not far from Mumbai), there are situated the Deccan Traps – a “large igneous province, and one of the largest volcanic features on earth, taking the form of a large shield volcano” (– Wikipedia). These formed some 65 million years ago from a volcanic eruption – lasting… 30,000 years! And that eruption, maybe, was what saw off the dinosaurs…

I wonder – can you see where I’m going with this? A clue, if not: the word ‘traps‘; as in – the Deccan Traps. Remember where else there are traps – ones which I mentioned just recently? Yep – in the Far North of Russia: the Siberian Traps…

Ok. Enough beating around the geographical-bush. Here’s right where I’m going with this! ->

Yep – all the way up there, from all the way down here.

I just have a feeling that the same Réunion hotpot is responsible for the formation of the Siberian traps and the Putorana Plateau. How so? Because the latter was formed some 250 million years ago, while the Deccan Traps – just 65 million. Surely 250 million years ago it was the Eurasian Plate that was above the hotspot, and one fine day eruption (lasting a million years!) – bang, and there – Siberian Traps/Putorana formed. Thereafter, the tectonic plate slides slowly over the hotspot, moving north, eventually dragging the Indian Plate up and across the hotspot, and – voilà: the tropical islands of the Indian Ocean are formed one after the other!…

At least – that’s my hunch. Of course, I’m no geologist, but still, it does sound plausible to me – the curious layman. Any geologists out there? Please tell us what’s what if what I think is what is what’s not!

And that (really!) is all on the Putorana theme folks. Hope you liked.

I’ll be back soon with fresh tales from another fascinating part of the world – albeit it fascinating in a very different way: Saudi Arabia!…