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[[Image:Panjal Traps.jpg|thumb|Panjal Traps in 1912]]
The '''Panjal Traps''' or the '''Tethyan Plume''' is a [[large igneous province]] (LIP) that erupted during the Early–[[Guadalupian|Middle Permian]] in what is now north-western [[India]].  The Panjal Traps are associated with the opening of the [[Tethys Ocean|Neo-Tethys Ocean]], which resulted in the dispersal of the [[Cimmeria (continent)|Cimmerian]] [[continental fragment|continental blocks]] from the north-eastern margin of [[Gondwana]] and possibly the break-up of this old and large continent.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chauvet|Lapierre|Bosch|Guillot|2008|loc=Introduction, p. 384}}</ref>
In the [[Zanskar]]-[[Lahaul and Spiti district|Spliti-Lahaul]] area (in the north-western Himalayas and south-east Ladakh) the {{Convert|30|-|150|m|abbr=on}}-thick basalts of the Panjal Traps are mostly exposed as massive (terrestrial) lava flows, but also as (marine) [[pillow lava]]s and [[hyaloclastite]]s.<ref name="Chauvet-setting">{{Harvnb|Chauvet|Lapierre|Bosch|Guillot|2008|loc=Geological setting, pp. 384–386}}</ref>

The Panjal Traps were first documented in 1824 and were eventually named by British geologist [[Richard Lydekker]] in 1883,<ref>{{Harvnb|Lydekker|1883}}</ref> but their origin, age, and relationship with surrounding and underlying rocks remained elusive for more than a century.<ref name="Shellnutt-2014">{{Harvnb|Shellnutt|Bhat|Wang|Brookfield|2014|loc=Introduction, pp. 159–161}}</ref>  They remained one of the most understudied LIPs before being properly dated to 289&nbsp;Ma in 2011.<ref name="Shellnutt-2011">{{Harvnb|Shellnutt|Bhat|Brookfield|Jahn|2011|loc=Abstract}}</ref>

==Geological setting==
Late Carboniferous to [[Cisuralian|Early Permian]] deposits of Tethyan affinity in the Zanskar-Spiti area are mostly [[terrigenous]], [[Detritus|detrital]] sedimentary rocks, although some magmatic activity documented in Pakistan and central Nepal has been associated with this period.  These sedimentary layers are associated with the erosion that followed the [[Tectonic uplift|uplift]] of the margins of the newly rifted Indian continent.  
In the eastern and central Himalayas more voluminous volcanic eruptions have been documented from the same period.  The [[Abor Hills|Abor]] volcanics produced {{Convert|1500|m|abbr=on}} of [[basalt]]ic to [[andesite|andesitic]] flows and [[tuff]]s.  In the [[Lopingian|Late Permian]] ([[Sakmarian]]-[[Roadian]]) the [[tholeiitic basalt|theoliitic]] [[Nar-Tsum]](?) produced {{Convert|300|m}} of [[spilite]]s and [[Bhote Koshi|Bhote Kosi]] basalts in southern Tibet.<ref name="Chauvet-setting" />

The slightly younger ([[Artinskian]]-[[Permian#anchor 2|Kazanian]]) Panjal Traps produced the largest magmatic province in north-western India.  Its lava flows now covers 10<sup>5</sup>&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>, from the eastern Zanskar-Spliti-Lahaul area to north-eastern Pakistan and they filled a rifted valley called the Zanskar-Spiti [[syncline|synclinorium]].<ref name="Chauvet-setting" />
The original extent of the Panjal Traps may have exceeded 0.2x10<sup>6</sup>&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>, a distribution similar to those of the [[Emeishan Traps|Emeishan LIP]] in south-western China and the [[Columbia River Basalt Group|Columbia River basalts]] in north-western United States.<ref>{{Harvnb|Stojanovic|Aitchison|Ali|Ahmad|2016|loc=Introduction, p. 116}}</ref>
In Ladakh and in the [[Kashmir Valley|Kashmir Basin]] the flows are {{Convert|2500|m|abbr=on}} thick with a smaller amount of [[Pyroclastic rock|pyroclastic]]s overlain by [[Phenocryst|aphyric]] basaltic flows.  In north-eastern Pakistan the Panjal flows are exposed as [[Dike (geology)|dykes]] cross-cutting the [[Basement (geology)|basement]] and Early Paleozoic layers, and as inter-layered magmatic flows on Late Plaeozoic to Early Mesozoic layers with Tethyan affinity.<!--Panjal Traps are widespread and up to 2km thick under [[eclogite]]s and [[amphibolite]]s metamorphic [[facies]](?).--><ref name="Chauvet-setting" />

The eruption of the Panjal Traps was followed (Kazanian-[[Wuchiapingian|Djulfian]]) by the emplacement of a succession of sediments, the result of the progressive [[Thermal subsidence|thermo]]-[[tectonic subsidence]] of the Indian passive margin associated with the expanding Neo-Tethys.<ref name="Chauvet-setting" />

==Tectonic implications==
The Panjal Traps have been associated with either the [[Olson's Extinction|Mid-Capitanian]] (260&nbsp;Ma) or [[Permian–Triassic extinction event|End-Permian]] (251&nbsp;Ma) mass extinction events.  Analyses of zircon crystals have, however, yielded an [[U-Pb dating|<sup>206</sup>U/<sup>238</sup>Pb age]] of 289±2&nbsp;Ma&nbsp;— considerably older than these mass extinctions.<ref name="Shellnutt-2011" />
The Panjal Traps can, nevertheless, be linked to the African [[Large low-shear-velocity provinces|large low-shear-velocity province]] (or superplume) and, as such, is most likely responsible for the widespread flood basalts in the Himalayas, but the [[Siberian Traps]] (251&nbsp;Ma) are probably a better candidate for these younger mass extinctions.<ref>{{Harvnb|Torsvik|Cocks|2013|pp=1023–1024; Fig. 21, p. 1026}}</ref>

Late Carboniferous-Permian LIPs (such as [[Skagerrak-Centered Large Igneous Province|Jutland]], Panjal, [[Tarim Large Igenous Province|Tarim]], [[Emeishan Traps|Emeishan]] and Siberia) were emplaced before the break-up of Pangaea whereas the post-Permian LIPs were involved in the break-up of the supercontinent.  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 [[komatiite]]s and [[picrite]]s.<ref name="Shellnutt-2014" />
The chemical and isotopic composition of samples of basalt taken from the eastern Kashmir Valley are similar to within-plate basalts, and probably derived from a [[spinel]] [[peridotite]] source.  Samples taken from the western side of the valley are more primitive, derived from a more depleted source.  This suggests that Panjal made a transition from a newly formed continental setting, where the basalt composition was 'enriched [[Ocean island basalt|OIB]]-like', to an old ocean basin, where the composition was 'depleted [[Mid-ocean ridge|MORB]]-like'.  Chemically, the Panjal basalts are similar to those from post-Permian/post-Pangaean LIPs.<ref>{{Harvnb|Shellnutt|Bhat|Wang|Yeh|2015|loc=Abstract}}</ref>

[[Paleomagnetism|Paleomagnetic]] data from the Kashmir Valley indicate the Panjal eruption occurred at a paleolatitude of c. 33°&nbsp;(±5°)S.<ref>{{Harvnb|Stojanovic|Aitchison|Ali|Ahmad|2016|loc=Abstract}}</ref>

==References==
===Notes===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
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{{Refend}}

{{Large igneous provinces}}

[[Category:Geology of the Himalaya]]
[[Category:Geology of India]]
[[Category:Large igneous provinces]]
[[Category:Permian volcanism]]