Comment on “40Ar / 39Ar dating of the Rajahmundry Traps, eastern India and their relationship to the Deccan Traps” by Knight et al. [Earth Planet Sci. Lett. 208 (2003) 85-99]

Knight et al. presented age and chemical data on two (sets of) lava flows from the Rajahmundry area, on either bank of the Godavari River. The age and petrogenesis of these flows and their possible link to sections of the main Deccan Province are of importance to the understanding of many aspects of flood basalt volcanism. I comment on (a) the use of geochemical fingerprints for lava identification/correlation at Rajahmundry, superceding (apparent) field relations, (b) their 40Ar / 39Ar data and its refinement based on statistical tests and the alteration state of the samples (c) correlation of age data and the magnetic polarity of the lavas to the geomagnetic polarity time scale and (d) the possibility that both lavas at Rajahmundry were formed by intracanyon flows derived from ∼1000 km away.