Re: Bigass volcanism (was RE: Human bottlenecks and bird taxonomy (was: Re: "Dinosaurs Died Within Hours...))

[K and T Dykes <ktdykes@arcor.de>]

Hi Tom,

<<Indeed, if they were produced by just one eruption, they wouldn't be
called "Traps" (Dutch for "steps"): the fact that you had flow after flow
after flow with long periods (years, maybe centuries or more) in between
events produces the layered effect, which weathers out into steps.>>

Other sources blame 'traps' on Swedish, (eg. from one of Dewy McLean's
webpages: The Deccan Traps Volcanism-Greenhouse Dinosaur Extinction Theory -
http://filebox.vt.edu/artsci/geology/mclean/Dinosaur_Volcano_Extinction/page
s/studentv.html ):

<<The name Deccan Traps comes from the Terrace-like profile resulting from
successive flows, 'Deccan' from dakhan (= south), and 'traps' from the
Swedish trapp, trappa (= stair).>>

Northern European would cover both options.
Cheers
Trevor