1. Introduction
15
1.3.3 Kérala
The Southern State of Kérala in India is one of the smallest maritime States
with an area of about 39,000 km2 located along the Southwest coast of India
lying between Latitudes of 8° 18' and 12°48'N and Longitudes of 74°52' and
77°22'E. The width of the land area varies between 10 km and 120 km with
the maximum width in its central région. Even though, the size of the State
is small (only 1% of the total land area of India) it has a sizeable Coastal
stretch of 590 km which is about 7.8% of the total Indian coast line length
of 7500 km. The population density in the Coastal districts of Trivandrum,
Quilon, Ernakulam, Malappuram and Calicut is more than 2000/km2 and
this is quite high or rather alarming compared to the average State density
of about 860 km2 as per the 2011 Census. The district wise coastline of
Kérala is shown in Fig. 1.9.
The Coastal stretch of Kérala with a length of about 590 km that forms
a major part of the south-west coast of India is considered to be of recent
origin according to marine geologists. The Kérala coast has sandy beaches
to an extent of 80% whereas, muddy flats and rocky coasts constitute the
balance 15% and 5%, respectively. There are évidences of both submergent (lakes, backwaters) and emergent features (barrier spits) which can
be attributed to long-term changes in sea level, climate, lithology, structure and non-tectonic movements. Since this part of the coast is considered
to be tectonically stable, the sea level change observed along the coast is
mainly due to glacio-eustatic impact. The Coastal zone expériences heavy
rainfall (>3000 mm/year) and generally has high température (30°C). The
Coastal tract is highly dissected and the landscape is the resuit of extensive
Tertiary dénudation due to tropical climate (Subramanian and Rao, 1984).
The largest spit formed along the west coast of India is the 84 km long
and 10 km wide spit formed between the Aleppey (Alappuzha) and Cochin
coast, separating the Vembanad Lake from the Arabian Sea (Ahmad, 1972).
The shoreline orientation of Kérala coast is generally straight trending NNW-SSE. The coast is unique due to its biodiversity, presence of a
number of Coastal features (details presented in Table 1.3) like backwaters,
lagoons, estuaries, mud banks, barrier islands, Coastal bays, coves, sea cliffs
(rocky and lateritic), inland canals etc. The absence of deltas is another
conspicuous feature which makes it different from the east coast of India.
The Coastal strips, estuaries, barrier beaches and lagoons along the Kérala
coast comprise the lowlands (élévation < 8 m above MSL) of the three
physiographic régions identified in Kérala as indicated in the above figure.
15
1.3.3 Kérala
The Southern State of Kérala in India is one of the smallest maritime States
with an area of about 39,000 km2 located along the Southwest coast of India
lying between Latitudes of 8° 18' and 12°48'N and Longitudes of 74°52' and
77°22'E. The width of the land area varies between 10 km and 120 km with
the maximum width in its central région. Even though, the size of the State
is small (only 1% of the total land area of India) it has a sizeable Coastal
stretch of 590 km which is about 7.8% of the total Indian coast line length
of 7500 km. The population density in the Coastal districts of Trivandrum,
Quilon, Ernakulam, Malappuram and Calicut is more than 2000/km2 and
this is quite high or rather alarming compared to the average State density
of about 860 km2 as per the 2011 Census. The district wise coastline of
Kérala is shown in Fig. 1.9.
The Coastal stretch of Kérala with a length of about 590 km that forms
a major part of the south-west coast of India is considered to be of recent
origin according to marine geologists. The Kérala coast has sandy beaches
to an extent of 80% whereas, muddy flats and rocky coasts constitute the
balance 15% and 5%, respectively. There are évidences of both submergent (lakes, backwaters) and emergent features (barrier spits) which can
be attributed to long-term changes in sea level, climate, lithology, structure and non-tectonic movements. Since this part of the coast is considered
to be tectonically stable, the sea level change observed along the coast is
mainly due to glacio-eustatic impact. The Coastal zone expériences heavy
rainfall (>3000 mm/year) and generally has high température (30°C). The
Coastal tract is highly dissected and the landscape is the resuit of extensive
Tertiary dénudation due to tropical climate (Subramanian and Rao, 1984).
The largest spit formed along the west coast of India is the 84 km long
and 10 km wide spit formed between the Aleppey (Alappuzha) and Cochin
coast, separating the Vembanad Lake from the Arabian Sea (Ahmad, 1972).
The shoreline orientation of Kérala coast is generally straight trending NNW-SSE. The coast is unique due to its biodiversity, presence of a
number of Coastal features (details presented in Table 1.3) like backwaters,
lagoons, estuaries, mud banks, barrier islands, Coastal bays, coves, sea cliffs
(rocky and lateritic), inland canals etc. The absence of deltas is another
conspicuous feature which makes it different from the east coast of India.
The Coastal strips, estuaries, barrier beaches and lagoons along the Kérala
coast comprise the lowlands (élévation < 8 m above MSL) of the three
physiographic régions identified in Kérala as indicated in the above figure.