Alkaline rocks of the deccan traps

Recent investigations on the Deccan Traps reveal many new findings of alkaline rocks more commonly occurring as minor intrusions than as lava flows. In comparison to the vast extent of the Deccan Traps, the alkaline rocks are negligible in their volume and are confined to tectonic belts in parts of Western India. The rocks exhibit no systematic variation in their petrographical and chemical characters thereby suggesting that they were not derived from a primary alkali olivine-basalt magma. The possibility of derivation of alkaline magma locally along the rift zones is proposed. Some of the alkaline rocks are shown to have been formed due to the effective role of volatiles in bringing dissociation of feldspar in certain cases, and alkali metasomatism in others. The syntexis of the pre-Deccan Trap carbonate rocks along the Narmada rift zone is also responsible for some occurrences.