Remote Sensing Revealed Geomorphic Anomalies and Recent Earth Movements in Cauvery Delta, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

It has been convincingly demonstrated from all over the world that the recent earth movements have greater control over various natural disaster vulnerabilities like seismicity, landslides, floods and the accelerated vulnerabilities to flooding, storm surges, tsunami, sea level rise and erosion along the coasts. But, despite the recurrence of these disasters in the Indian Peninsula, not much of importance was given in the study of the earth movements in general and along the coastal/deltaic regions in particular. However, after the advent of modern satellite-based remote sensing technology, sporadic studies were carried out, which indicated the vulnerability of the Sothern part of the Indian Peninsula too, to recent earth movements. However, no comprehensive information is available on the coastal/deltaic areas, which are more prone to such tectonically induced disaster vulnerabilities. In this context, the scanning of the global literature shows that geomorphology has been used as one of the important tools in mapping the zones of active tectonics/recent earth movements. So, considering the significance of the Cauvery delta of south India on the natural resources, natural disaster vulnerabilities and the towering maritime history, the present study was carried out to bring out a comprehensive picture on the recent earth movements of Cauvery delta and its significance, integrating the faults and the hierarchy of fluvial /drainage anomalies interpreted from different satellite datasets.