Middle to late Holocene paleochannels and migration of the Palar River, Tamil Nadu: Implications of neotectonic activity

Abstract

Geomorphic, tectonic and sedimentary investigations have been carried out to understand the landscape evolution of the Palar River basin, Southern Peninsular India. For this purpose, satellite data interpretations coupled with field investigations, fluvial architecture and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating methods were adopted to infer climatic variations and neotectonic deformation that took place during the mid to late Holocene period. Several paleochannels have been identified in the Northern part of the present day Palar River. The distribution pattern of the Palar paleochannels and its present course indicate its migration towards the south, leaving behind the old Palar River streams as paleochannels. Significant changes in the morphological characteristics, channel width and river pattern in the successive paleochannels reveal evidences of channel movement by avulsion largely controlled by reactivation of pre-existing lineaments and intensified NE monsoon. Based on OSL ages, two major phases of migration have been identified that occurred between 4.83 ka to 1.88 ka. First phase occurred between 3.59 ka to 3.26 ka due to intensified monsoon accompanied with small scale neotectonic activity. The second phase took place between 2.42 ka to 1.88 ka which occurred probably due to the rapid upstream avulsion. This rapid avulsion is due to the close proximity of MPA and the reactivation of the pre-existing lineaments. Moreover, the present Palar River basin exhibits evidences of neotectonic activity such as soft sediment deformation structures, anomalous drainage deflections and reactivation of lineaments and faults further indicating that the Palar River is still draining a tectonically active region. Thus, neotctonics and fluctuations in the intensity of monsoon are largely responsible for sculpting the present landscape.