Largest flood basalt eruption
- Who
- Unknown
- What
- 2,000,000 square kilometre(s)
- Where
- Not Applicable
- When
- 04 October 2004
The largest flood basalt eruption ever was the Siberian Traps eruption, which began 248.3 million years ago and lasted around one million years. The vast quantities of lava that erupted along huge fissures in the Earth's crust now cover an area of around two million km² (800,000 square miles) centred on what is now Siberia.
The total volume of lava erupted in this event is estimated to be several million km³ – enough to cover the entire Earth's surface to a depth of a few metres. The Siberian Traps flood basalt eruption occurred around the same time as the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, the greatest in Earth's history, and is a likely candidate for the cause of this extinction.
Flood basalt eruptions have also occurred extensively on the Moon, and are responsible for the dark lunar maria (seas).