Utilizing the statistical approach of Cox and Dalrymple (1967), it is shown that the geomagnetic polarity time scale of Harland et al. (1982) may contain errors of 0.85--1.0 m.y. for middle-late Miocene times. A revised time scale, based on the work of McDougall et al. (1984), is correlated with the magnetostratigraphic units of the Columbia River Basalts (United States). Lava extrusion rates reached a peak of ~275 km3/kyr for a period of ~0.5 m.y. around 15.8 Ma during the Columbia volcanic episode. It is suggested that even higher rates of lava extrusion may have occurred in the Deccan Province (central India) ~65 Ma. A simple energy budget calculation indicates that the Reunion hotspot could provide enough heat to melt the total volume of rock needed to produce the Deccan Traps during the ~5 m.y. it would have taken the subcontinent to traverse the hotspot. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1988