The Deccan Traps near Mahabaleshwar, India. Credit: Image courtesy of Gerta Keller, Department of Geosciences, Princeton University.

New research from Princeton University in the USA has shown that massive volcanic explosions 66 million years ago spewed enormous amounts of climate-altering gases into the atmosphere immediately before and during the extinction of the dinosaurs.

A range of volcanoes in western India known as the Deccan Traps, which were once three times larger than France, began a phase of eruptions roughly 250,000 years before the extinction.

For the next 750,000 years, the volcanoes unleashed more than 1.1 million cubic kilometers (264,000 cubic miles) of lava.

The results suggest the Deccan Traps played a role in the dinosaurs’ extinction, and challenge the idea that a meteorite impact in Mexico was the sole cause.

The researchers used a precise rock-dating technique to work out when the main eruption started.