65 million years ago - spectacular end to a spectacular era
Did death rise from the centre of the Earth?
At about the same time as the meteorite strike in Mexico, the huge crustal plate carrying the Indian subcontinent was slowly moving over an underlying hot spot deep in the Earth and started to break apart. Earthquakes rocked the region and volcanic eruptions hurled trillions of tonnes of poisonous gases and ash high into the air. Two million cubic kilom of lava buried southwest India.
Evidence
Rapidly cooled lava forms a type of rock called basalt. In some parts of southwestern India, a layer of black basalt more than 1 km thick covers the land.
