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Late Holocene morphodynamic evolution of Thamirabarani delta and Thoothukudi tombolo in South India: insights from integrated analysis of early cartographic documents and satellite images

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Abstract

The age of discovery and exploration (fifteenth-sixteenth century CE) in Europe and later colonisation of newly explored territories by Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, French, Dutch, and British led to extensive mapping/charting of coastal regions around the globe for navigation, as well as for political and military purposes. These sea charts and coastal maps contain rich geomorphological details and offer unique geographical inputs for studying past geomorphic processes. By meticulously combining data from early sea charts, maps, historical textual records, and satellite images, the current study intends to illustrate their relevance in comprehending the long-term (from the past few centuries to a few thousand years) geomorphological processes. The study area includes the coast of the Thamirabarani delta and the Thoothukudi coast in southeast Tamil Nadu, which is known for its historically important ports, viz. Korkai and Kayal or Palayakayal. These places, were functional ports in the past, are now located a few kilometres inland. This study provides the following multifaceted outcomes: 1) offered a novel understanding of the morphodynamic evolution of the Thamirabarani delta and Thoothukudi tombolo; 2) revealed the value of early maps not only in tracing the geomorphic dynamics and dating the observed changes but also in developing a better understanding of the interpretation keys of remote sensing data; 3) provided an understanding of anthropogenic impressions on the landscape (street pattern or agricultural field pattern) driven by geomorphic changes; the identification of these patterns help validating the content of early maps. Integrated study of early cartographic documents (widely available in various archives and libraries around the world) has a high potential to advance the understanding of the morphodynamic evolution of various coastal landforms at a global scale.

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Notes

  1. Marco Polo was an Italian merchant, explorer, and writer who travelled to Asia in the later thirteenth century. Refer: Cordier, Yule (1929) The Book Of Ser Marco Polo Vol Ii. Armorica Book Co Philo Press Amsterdam

  2. Niccolò de’ Conti was an Italian merchant, explorer, and writer. Who traveled to India during the early fifteenth century. The reference of Cahila is taken from Robert Cardwell’s book, (Cardwell 1881, 37).

  3. Duarte Barbosa was a Portuguese writer and officer from Portuguese India (between c. 1500 and c. 1516) and the author of the ‘Book of Duarte Barbosa’ (Livro de Duarte Barbosa) c. 1516

  4. Vasco de Gama was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea in c. 1498.

  5. Foote’s document say Atlas Sheet 81 surveyed in 1828, however, it’s not clear which map he is referring to. The Atlas of India, 1862 has a sheet (80) published in 1828 depicting the Thamirabarani delta that has same topographical details as found in Foote’s geological map. Therefore, I am assuming the Sheet 81 he referred to is similar to Sheet 80 mentioned above.

  6. Choked lagoons have one or more narrow and long entrance and are found along coasts with high wave energy and significant littoral drift ((Kjerfve and Magill 1989)

  7. This measurement is based on the overlay of 1919 map on the base map and the strandline identified on that base map.

  8. According to an excavation report (Sridhar 2004), charcoal samples collected from a hearth of clay found at a depth of 2.69 m at Korkai are datable to 785 BCE

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Acknowledgements

The work presented here is a part of doctoral thesis of the first author. The first author thanks National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru, for providing fellowship to conduct her doctoral research and the Nehru Trust for providing travel grant to conduct archival work in the United Kingdom. The authors are grateful to Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India for financial support. We thank Prof R R Navalgund, Dr. Meera Iyer, Dr. Nithin Nagaraj and and Prof V V Bhujangarao for useful discussions. We express gratitude to Dr. Shailesh Nayak, Director, NIAS, for the institutional support and also for giving his insightful suggestions that improved the quality of the work. We thank all the physical and digital libraries and archives listed in the Appendix as sources and publishers for sharing their data.

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  1. Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar, India

    Ekta Gupta

  2. National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, India

    Mandyam Bhoolokam Rajani

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Gupta, E., Rajani, M.B. Late Holocene morphodynamic evolution of Thamirabarani delta and Thoothukudi tombolo in South India: insights from integrated analysis of early cartographic documents and satellite images. J Coast Conserv 27, 3 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-023-00932-4

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