[no subject]

[Tommy Tyrberg <tommy.tyrberg@norrkoping.mail.telia.com>]

>I wonder if the Laki lavas have developed much soil yet
>(Iceland, late 18th century, the only historical analogue to flood
>basalt eruptions. For those that need their memory jogged.)?

They have not, in fact they look remarkably fresh. However this is not be 
very significant since soil forms very slowly in Iceland. They even have a 
word: "kristendomslava" = "christian lava", that is lava that has erupted 
in the 1,000 years since Iceland became christian, which normally looks 
quite fresh with little vegetation.
In wet tropical climates on the other hand volcanic ash deposits break down 
quickly into remarkably fertile soils, certainly within a few centuries, 
thereby attracting people to settle in highly dangerous areas. I'm not sure 
about plateau basalts. Anybody got data from Ethiopia? That's about the 
only reasonably recent plateau basalt area in the tropics.

Tommy Tyrberg