[1] We report for the first time 40 Ar-39 Ar plateau ages for the Sylhet Traps of eastern India. Our results provide concordant ages for two samples, vertically separated by $200 m, from a tholeiite lava flow sequence. The ages are indistinguishable at 2s confidence level indicating a rapid emplacement of these lavas. The weighted mean of the plateau ages associated with least errors, 116.0 ± 3.5 Ma, most likely represents the age of eruption. Clearly, the Sylhet Traps are contemporaneous with the Kerguelen plume generated Rajmahal and Bengal Traps. Our results in conjunction with the existing age data in the RajmahalBengal-Sylhet igneous province suggest that the latter experienced widespread, and rapid emplacement of flood basalts at $118 ± 2 Ma. Such a large-scale volcanism would have required a direct involvement of the Kerguelen plume, suggesting that the Kerguelen hotspot was located close to the eastern Indian margin during its initiation.
We report here a 40 Ar-39 Ar age of 66.0 ± 0.9 Ma (2σ) for a reversely magnetised tholeiitic lava flow from the Bhimashankar Formation (Fm.), Giravali Ghat, western Deccan province, India. This age is consistent with the view that the 1.8-2 km thick bottom part of the exposed basalt flow sequence in the Western Ghats was extruded very close to 67.4 Ma.
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