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A flood basalt (or plateau basalt [1]) is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that covers large stretches of land or the ocean floor with basalt lava. Many flood basalts have been attributed to the onset of a hotspot reaching the surface of the Earth via a mantle plume . [ 2 ]
The Columbia River Basalt Group (including the Steen and Picture Gorge basalts) extends over portions of four states. The Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) is the youngest, smallest and one of the best-preserved continental flood basalt provinces on Earth, covering over 210,000 km 2 (81,000 sq mi) mainly eastern Oregon and Washington, western Idaho, and part of northern Nevada. [1]
The Flat Tops is a mountain range located in Colorado within the Routt and White River National Forests. [1] Much of the range is within the boundary of the Flat Tops Wilderness Area. While there are notable peaks in the Flat Tops, the dominant feature of the range is the high plateau from which the peaks arise.
In the eastern part of the basin, the sedimentary section is capped by flows of basalt of Miocene age. [1] The basin is highly asymmetrical, the beds dipping more steeply on the west side than the east. The sedimentary rocks of the basin are extensively intruded by igneous plugs, dikes and sills of Eocene to Oligocene age.
The area devastated by the La Garita eruption is thought to have covered a significant portion of what is now Colorado. The deposit, known as the Fish Canyon Tuff, covered at least 11,000 sq mi (28,000 km 2). Its average thickness is 330 ft (100 m). The eruption might have formed a large-area ash-fall, but none has yet been identified. [5]
East of the Continental Divide, surface waters flow to the Gulf of Mexico, either via the Rio Grande or via one of several rivers (the South Platte River, the North Platte River, the Republican River, the Arkansas River, the Cimarron River, or the Canadian River) which eventually feed the Mississippi River along the way.
The Grand Mesa is a large mesa in western Colorado in the United States. It is the largest flat-topped mountain in the world. [1] It has an area of about 500 square miles (1,300 km 2) and stretches for about 40 miles (60 km) east of Grand Junction between the Colorado River and the Gunnison River, its tributary to the south.
The leading edges of basalt flows can travel as fast as 10 kilometres per hour (6.2 mph) on steep slopes but they typically advance less than 1 kilometre per hour (0.62 mph) on gentle slopes. [13] But when basalt lava flows are confined within a channel or lava tube on a steep slope, the main body of the flow can reach velocities more than 30 ...