Holocene morphological modification of South West coast of India: Evidence from the palaeo-deposits of Meenachil river basin, Kerala

摘要

Kerala State of Indian sub-continent unfortunately possesses a highly imperfect geological record compared to other states. The occurrence of Tertiary and Recent deposits as longitudinal outcrops paralleling the Western coast has led to the view thatKerala was under the influence of local marine environments to a minor extent in the geological past. The present study has created an insight into the morphological modification of the south western coast of India by depicting the textural characteristics of the palaeo-deposits of Meenachil River Basin. The existing course of the Meenachil River, its two tributaries - Pannagan Thodu and Meenadom Ar and the flood plains of the same were also investigated for textural analysis and the textural dispersionmodel was evolved using Arc GIS (8.3version) to find out the influenced geomor-phological configuration of the area. 14C dating of the palaeodeposits was also done to evolve the chronology of deposition. It is suggested that the occurrence of palaeo-deposits of sand in the Meenachil river basin had their origin in consequent to the Holocene eustatic sea level fluctuations and tectonism.