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Evaluation of the Holocene environmental changes of the southwest coast, India: A palaeopalynological approach

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Abstract

The climatic variability and the influence of temperature and sea level fluctuations on the earth’s surface configuration during the Holocene are being discussed all over the world. The present study evaluates the palaeo-environmental conditions of western coast of India during this epoch through the analysis of pollen grains embedded in a carbonaceous clay formation (≅ 0.4–0.6 m) found sandwiched within the palaeodeposit of sand of Meenachil River basin. The carbon dating revealed that the clay formation has an age of 5786 ± 94 14C yr BP, while the embedded wood samples have the age varying in between 2888 ± 78 and 5780 ± 95 14C yr BP. The overall analysis suggests that the southwestern margin of India had experienced high intensity rainfall during the earlier part of the Atlantic chronozone due to then strengthened Asiatic monsoon, while water stagnation and hydrological modifications were observed during the later part. The dominance of weeds and lesser number of tree elements suggested a drier climate during the end of the Atlantic period. Besides, the morphometric rearrangement of the Meenachil River contemporaneous to the geomorphological modifications of the southwestern coast of India shall be classified into three categories: (1) Pre-Vembanad Lake formation, (2) Contemporaneous to lake formation and (3) Post-Lake formation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their sincere thanks to Dr E V Ramasamy, Director, School of Environmental Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University for providing the facilities. They acknowledge with gratitude the facility provided at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow and the French Institute of Pondicherry. Thanks are also due to Dr K Sankaran Unni (former Professor and Head, Postgraduate Department of Botany, Govt. College, Chindwada, Madhya Pradesh) for his valuable suggestions and comments. The authors also wish to acknowledge the suggestions by the anonymous referees in improving the quality of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, 686 560, Kerala, India

    B AJAYKUMAR, K SREEDHARAN, MAHESH MOHAN & JOBY PAUL

  2. Advanced Centre of Environmental Studies and Sustainable Development, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, 686 560, Kerala, India

    A P THOMAS

  3. Environmental Resource Research Centre, NCC Nagar, Peroorkada, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

    P K K NAIR

  4. Department of Mining and Geology, Government of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

    B AJAYKUMAR

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AJAYKUMAR, B., SREEDHARAN, K., MOHAN, M. et al. Evaluation of the Holocene environmental changes of the southwest coast, India: A palaeopalynological approach. J Earth Syst Sci 121, 1093–1103 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-012-0210-x

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