<p>Short answer, there are various estimates, with large uncertainties, ranging from 4 to 7 million km<sup>2</sup>.</p>
<p>Pulling from the <a href="https://www.le.ac.uk/gl/ads/SiberianTraps/AreaVolume.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">link</a> provided by <a href="https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/users/6535/keith-mcclary">Keith McClary</a> in the comments:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Estimating the original extent of the Traps is difficult, given the
likely erosion over the last 250 Ma. This is especially important for
the relatively easily eroded pyroclastic deposits. Whilst preservation
may have been improved by burial in the West Siberian Basin and
Yenesei-Khatanga Trough, it is unclear how much tectonic uplift and
erosion occurred in these basins during the early Triassic, prior to
burial. Milanovskiy (1976) estimated that the original extent of the
Traps was about 4x10<sup>6</sup> km<sup>2</sup>, but there must be considerable latitude in
this figure. Masaitis (1983), for example, has suggested that the
Traps originally extended over a region of ~7 million km<sup>2</sup>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Masaitis, V.L., 1983. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Permian%20and%20Triassic%20volcanism%20of%20Siberia:%20Problems%20of%20dynamic%20reconstructions.%20Notes%20of%20the%20all-Union%20mineralogical%20society&amp;author=Masaitis,%20V.L.&amp;publication_year=1983&amp;journal=Zap.%20Vseross.%20Miner.%20Obs.&amp;volume=112&amp;pages=412%E2%80%93425" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Permian and Triassic volcanism of Siberia: Problems of dynamic reconstructions</a>. Mineralogicheskogo Obshchestva, 112(4): 412-425.</p>
<p>Milanovskiy, Y.Y., 1976. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00206817609471257" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Rift zones of the geologic past and their associated formations</a>. International Geology Review, 18: 619-639.</p>
<p>Additionally I have found another estimate Saunders (2009):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The original total area (and volume) of the Siberian flood basalt
province is difficult to estimate, because a substantial portion is
covered by thick sedimentary se- quences and because an unknown amount
has been re- moved by erosion. Taking the limits of the existing out-
crops as a maximum extent, then we estimate that an area of
approximately 5×10<sup>6</sup> km<sup>2</sup> of Siberia may have been partly covered by
basalt<a href="https://www.le.ac.uk/gl/ads/SiberianTraps/AreaVolume.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">1</a>. It is unlikely that an accurate figure of area (and volume)
will ever be known.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Saunders, A., Reichow, M. <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwil7t-_nr_1AhX-lIkEHbARBk44ChAWegQIBxAB&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Frpdata.caltech.edu%2Fcourses%2FEvolution_GIST_2013%2Ffiles_2013%2Farticles%2FSaunders%2C%2520Reichow%2520-%25202009%2520-%2520The%2520Siberian%2520Traps%2520and%2520the%2520End-Permian%2520mass%2520extinction%2520a%2520critical%2520review.pdf&amp;usg=AOvVaw0IgqrEsXQ_mBxXeFgUHpQU" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The Siberian Traps and the End-Permian mass extinction: a critical review</a>. Chin. Sci. Bull. 54, 20–37 (2009). <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0543-7" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0543-7</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-24T22:51:54.350Z
It is an absolutely mind boggling volume of magma, unprecedented in scale, outside of oceanic spreading centers. After some very expensive computer modelling, there was some discussion some years ago that an immense asteroid striking the opposite side of the globe might have focused energy into rupturing the crust in present day Siberia. What's known about the geophysical origins of these trapps?
Knob Scratcher
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-20T02:09:22.347Z
2022-01-20T02:09:22.347Z
GrapefruitIsAwesome
<p>252 million years ago, Siberia was subject to a mass series of flood basalt eruptions, creating a large igneous province called the Siberian Traps.  Today, it measures three million square miles (7.77 km<sup>2</sup>) in area and a volume of one million cubic miles (4.17 km<sup>3</sup>).  But that is the province's <em>current</em> size, which means that it has been measured with 252 million years of erosion into account.</p>
<p>So the question is—<strong>Do we have any idea how big the Siberian Traps were initially?</strong></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-27T04:08:46.883Z
https://www.le.ac.uk/gl/ads/SiberianTraps/AreaVolume.html
Keith McClary
<geology><volcanology><structural-geology><regional-geology>
How big were the Siberian Traps originally?
JohnWDailey
# How big were the Siberian Traps originally?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-02-26)

252 million years ago, Siberia was subject to a mass series of flood basalt eruptions, creating a large igneous province called the Siberian Traps. Today, it measures three million square miles (7.77 km2) in area and a volume of one million cubic miles (4.17 km3). But that is the province's *current* size, which means that it has been measured with 252 million years of erosion into account.

So the question is—**Do we have any idea how big the Siberian Traps were initially?**

**Tags:** geology, volcanology, structural-geology, regional-geology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: https://www.le.ac.uk/gl/ads/SiberianTraps/AreaVolume.html  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2022-01-20. Score: 2

Short answer, there are various estimates, with large uncertainties, ranging from 4 to 7 million km2.

Pulling from the [link](https://www.le.ac.uk/gl/ads/SiberianTraps/AreaVolume.html) provided by [username_1](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/users/6535/username_1) in the comments:

> Estimating the original extent of the Traps is difficult, given the
> likely erosion over the last 250 Ma. This is especially important for
> the relatively easily eroded pyroclastic deposits. Whilst preservation
> may have been improved by burial in the West Siberian Basin and
> Yenesei-Khatanga Trough, it is unclear how much tectonic uplift and
> erosion occurred in these basins during the early Triassic, prior to
> burial. Milanovskiy (1976) estimated that the original extent of the
> Traps was about 4x106 km2, but there must be considerable latitude in
> this figure. Masaitis (1983), for example, has suggested that the
> Traps originally extended over a region of ~7 million km2.

Masaitis, V.L., 1983. [Permian and Triassic volcanism of Siberia: Problems of dynamic reconstructions](https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Permian%20and%20Triassic%20volcanism%20of%20Siberia:%20Problems%20of%20dynamic%20reconstructions.%20Notes%20of%20the%20all-Union%20mineralogical%20society&author=Masaitis,%20V.L.&publication_year=1983&journal=Zap.%20Vseross.%20Miner.%20Obs.&volume=112&pages=412%E2%80%93425). Mineralogicheskogo Obshchestva, 112(4): 412-425.

Milanovskiy, Y.Y., 1976. [Rift zones of the geologic past and their associated formations](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00206817609471257). International Geology Review, 18: 619-639.

Additionally I have found another estimate Saunders (2009):

> The original total area (and volume) of the Siberian flood basalt
> province is difficult to estimate, because a substantial portion is
> covered by thick sedimentary se- quences and because an unknown amount
> has been re- moved by erosion. Taking the limits of the existing out-
> crops as a maximum extent, then we estimate that an area of
> approximately 5×106 km2 of Siberia may have been partly covered by
> basalt[1](https://www.le.ac.uk/gl/ads/SiberianTraps/AreaVolume.html). It is unlikely that an accurate figure of area (and volume)
> will ever be known.

Saunders, A., Reichow, M. [The Siberian Traps and the End-Permian mass extinction: a critical review](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwil7t-_nr_1AhX-lIkEHbARBk44ChAWegQIBxAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Frpdata.caltech.edu%2Fcourses%2FEvolution_GIST_2013%2Ffiles_2013%2Farticles%2FSaunders%2C%2520Reichow%2520-%25202009%2520-%2520The%2520Siberian%2520Traps%2520and%2520the%2520End-Permian%2520mass%2520extinction%2520a%2520critical%2520review.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0IgqrEsXQ_mBxXeFgUHpQU). Chin. Sci. Bull. 54, 20–37 (2009). <https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0543-7>

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: It is an absolutely mind boggling volume of magma, unprecedented in scale, outside of oceanic spreading centers. After some very expensive computer modelling, there was some discussion some years ago that an immense asteroid striking the opposite side of the globe might have focused energy into rupturing the crust in present day Siberia. What's known about the geophysical origins of these trapps?  

---

