Morphology of dunes of the Coromandel coast of Tamil Nadu: A satellite data based approach for coastal landuse planning

The 1000 km long coast of the Tamil Nadu state of India forms part of the Coromandel coast. The dunes which consist of Quaternary to Recent sediments are a major part of the various coastal landforms such as lagoons, estuaries, bays, beaches, spits, bars, deltas, marshes, tidal flats, mud flats, etc. The dunes occupy a large part of the Coromandel coast and have a key role in the morphology and landuse planning of this coastal zone. These dunes are an important source of ground water, heavy minerals, silica (glass) sands and are also potential avenues for social forestry, mixed forests, plantations and recreational resorts. As a first step in coastal zone management, mapping of these dunes and study of their relation to landuse is to be carried out. Their large extent and widespread habit make conventional mapping techniques difficult to use. Hence, the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS-1A) imagery has been used to map them. This paper gives an account of mapping these coastal dunes using IRS-1A imagery, a study of their morphology, the related landuse/land cover details, and also suggestions for optimal landuse management techniques.