Editing Deccan Traps (section)

==Petrology==
[[File:World geologic provinces.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The Deccan Traps shown as a dark purple spot on the geologic map of India]]
[[File:Epistilbite-Calcite-170550.jpg|thumb|Crystals of [[epistilbite]] and [[calcite]] in a [[vug]] in Deccan Traps basalt lava from Jalgaon District, Maharashtra]]Within the Deccan Traps, at least 95% of the lavas are [[tholeiitic basalt]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Aramaki|first1=S.|last2=Fukuoka|first2=T.|last3=Deshmukh|first3=S. S.|last4=Fujii|first4=T.|last5=Sano|first5=T.|date=2001-12-01|title=Differentiation Processes of Deccan Trap Basalts: Contribution from Geochemistry and Experimental Petrology|journal=Journal of Petrology|language=en|volume=42|issue=12|pages=2175–2195|doi=10.1093/petrology/42.12.2175|issn=0022-3530|doi-access=}}</ref> Major mineral constituents are [[olivine]], [[pyroxene]]s, and [[plagioclase]], as well as certain [[Iron|Fe]]-[[Titanium|Ti]]-rich oxides. These magmas are <7% [[Magnesium oxide|MgO]].  However, many of these minerals are observed as highly altered forms.<ref name=":0" /> Other rock types present include [[alkali basalt]], [[nephelinite]], [[lamprophyre]], and [[carbonatite]].

Mantle [[xenolith]]s have been described from [[Kachchh]] (northwestern India) and elsewhere in the western Deccan and contain spinel [[lherzolite]] and [[pyroxenite]] constituents.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Dessai|first1=A.G.|last2=Vaselli|first2=O.|date=October 1999|title=Petrology and geochemistry of xenoliths in lamprophyres from the Deccan Traps: implications for the nature of the deep crust boundary in western India|url=https://rruff.info/doclib/MinMag/Volume_63/63-5-703.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215200622/http://rruff.info/doclib/MinMag/Volume_63/63-5-703.pdf |archive-date=2016-12-15 |url-status=live|journal=Mineralogical Magazine|volume=63|issue=5|pages=703–722|doi=10.1180/minmag.1999.063.5.08|bibcode=1999MinM...63..703D}}</ref>

While the Deccan traps have been categorized in many different ways including the three different [[Stratigraphy|stratigraphic]] groups, geochemically the province can be split into as many as eleven different formations. Many of the petrologic differences in these units are a product of varying degrees of crustal contamination.<ref name=":0" />