Climate and Sea Level Changes in a Holocene Bay Head Delta, Kerala, Southwest Coast of India

Padmalal, D.; Nair, K. M.; Kumaran, K.; Sajan, K.; Mohan, S. Vishnu; Maya, K.; Santhosh, V.; Anooja, S.; Limaye, Ruta B.

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6016-5_13

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 11 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…In addition, the limited accommodation in the tidal basin during the time of formation of the Old Rhine distributary enabled rapid throughflow of fluvial sediment to the coast, enabling coastal transgression. Moreover, it inhibited the formation of a bay‐head delta, in contrast to many other rivers entering tidal basins (Boyd, Dalrymple, & Zaitlin, ; Dalrymple et al., ; Padmalal et al., ).…”

Section: Synthesis and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term evolution of the Old Rhine estuary: Unravelling effects of changing boundary conditions and inherited landscape

Haas

Valk

Cohen

et al. 2019

The Depositional Record

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The long‐term morphodynamic evolution of estuaries depends on a combination of antecedent topography and boundary conditions, including fluvial input, sea‐level change and regional‐landscape interactions. Identifying effects of such boundary conditions on estuary evolution is important to anticipate future changes in specific boundary conditions and for hindcasting with numerical and physical models. A comprehensive synthesis of the evolution of the former Old Rhine estuary is presented here, together with its boundary conditions over its full lifespan from 6,500 to 1,000 cal. yr bp. This system formed during a period of sea‐level high stand, during which the estuary served as the main River Rhine outlet. The estuary went through three stages of evolution: a maturation phase in a wide infilling back‐barrier basin, a stable mature phase and an abandoning phase, both in a laterally confined setting. The Old Rhine River formed by a river avulsion around 6,500 cal. yr bp that connected to a tidal channel within a large back‐barrier basin. Decelerating sea‐level rise caused the back‐barrier basin to silt up around 5,700 cal. yr bp, resulting in shoreline progradation by beach‐barrier formation until ∼2,000 cal. yr bp. Beach‐barrier formation along the coast and natural levee formation along the river triggered peat formation in the coastal plain, laterally constraining the estuary and limiting overbank deposition, which caused most sediment to accumulate offshore. The abandoning phase started around 2,200 cal. yr bp when a series of upstream avulsions led to a substantial reduction in fluvial input. This induced a period of enhanced estuarine overbank clay deposition that continued into near‐complete silting up and estuary closure around 1200 ad. These findings exemplify how tidal systems, formed in wide coastal plains during sea‐level high stand, depend on antecedent conditions, and how they respond to connection and disconnection of a large river over long, millennial timescales.

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Section: Synthesis and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term evolution of the Old Rhine estuary: Unravelling effects of changing boundary conditions and inherited landscape

Haas

Valk

Cohen

et al. 2019

The Depositional Record

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“…Various terrestrial proxies, such as magnetic susceptibility and element concentration in marine core sediments extracted from the Arabian Sea (Thamban et al, 2007), have observed a sudden rise in the intensity of SWMR during 9.5-8 ka (Table 1), which is coeval with the maxima in the Kaveri River discharge (Kale et al, 2010) and the formation of thermocline anoxia in the Arabian Sea (Staubwasser et al, 2002). Sedimentological, palynological, and stable isotopes of sediments from the Kallada Bay Delta suggest a rise in sea level during the early Holocene period due to intense rainfall (Padmalal et al, 2013). The beginning of early Holocene, optimum ∼ 10.65 ka, can be manifested from several parts of southern India (Sukumar et al, 1993;Rajagopalan et al, 1997;Caner et al, 2007;Kumaran et al, 2008;Sandeep et al, 2017;Raja et al, 2018b).…”

Section: Southwest Monsoonmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Southern Indian palaeo-monsoonal records indicate a dry climate phase throughout the mid-Holocene (Sukumar et al, 1993) followed by wet spells and a high sedimentation rate during late Holocene (Padmalal et al, 2013). Short-term abrupt climatic fluctuations of enhanced monsoon have been inferred at 8.5, 8.4, and 8.2 ka (Thamban et al, 2007;Kale et al, 2010;Limaye and Kumaran, 2012).…”

Section: Northgrippian Stage (Mid Holocene)mentioning

confidence: 95%

Holocene Monsoonal Variations Over Southern India: Looking Into Its Antecedents

2022

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A proper understanding of the paleoclimatic variability in the Southern Peninsular India demands a high-resolution paleoclimate reconstruction record. Hence, in this paper, we compiled all the available paleoclimate records from various locations across the Southern India that receives the southwest and the northeast monsoon. We delineated the southwest monsoon (SWMR) and Northeast monsoon (NEMR) variations within the Holocene Period based on the existing paleoclimatic record from this region. Paleoclimate records are primarily based on various paleoclimate archives and proxies. A detailed study of these variations unravels, (i) that SWMR gradually intensified since the younger dryas during the Early Holocene period. On the contrary, NEMR records indicate a dry phase during the same period. (ii) During the mid-late Holocene, precipitation in SWMR-dominated regions decreased, whereas precipitation in NEMR-dominated regions shows an increasing trend. (iii) Then, in the late Holocene Period, SWMR exhibits an overall wet phase with a few drier periods, and NEMR shows an intense dry period with shorter wet phases, which can be correlated to the demise of Chola dynasty, in the Southern India.

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“…The borehole core sediments were collected using rotary drilling unit fitted with Split Sediment Sampler—a method widely used for subsurface sample collection [ 10 – 13 ]. After documenting the gross lithological details, the borehole cores are sectioned at 10 cm intervals and sub-samples from selected depths were packed in neatly labeled Polyethylene bags for further laboratory analysis.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tropical Peat and Peatland Development in the Floodplains of the Greater Pamba Basin, South-Western India during the Holocene

et al. 2016

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Holocene sequences in the humid tropical region of Kerala, South-western (SW) India have preserved abundance of organic—rich sediments in the form of peat and its rapid development in a narrow time frame towards Middle Holocene has been found to be significant. The sub—coastal areas and flood plains of the Greater Pamba Basin have provided palaeorecords of peat indicating that the deposits are essentially formed within freshwater. The combination of factors like stabilized sea level and its subsequent fall since the Middle Holocene, topographic relief and climatic conditions led to rapid peat accumulation across the coastal lowlands. The high rainfall and massive floods coupled with a rising sea level must have inundated > 75% of the coastal plain land converting it into a veritable lagoon—lake system that eventually led to abrupt termination of the forest ecosystem and also converted the floodplains into peatland where accumulation of peat almost to 2.0–3.0 m thickness in coastal lowlands and river basins during the shorter interval in the Middle Holocene. Vast areas of the coastal plains of Kerala have been converted into carbon rich peatland during the Middle Holocene and transforming the entire coastal stretch and associated landforms as one of the relatively youngest peatlands in the extreme southern tip of India. Unlike the uninterrupted formation of peatlands of considerable extent during the Holocene in Southeast Asia, the south Peninsular Indian region has restricted and short intervals of peatlands in the floodplains and coastal lowlands. Such a scenario is attributed to the topographic relief of the terrain and the prevailing hydrological regimes and environmental conditions as a consequence of monsoon variability since Middle Holocene in SW India. Considering the tropical coastal lowlands and associated peatlands are excellent repositories of carbon, they are very important for regional carbon cycling and habitat diversity. The alarming rate of land modification and development is destabilizing these carbon pools resulting in large scale carbon emissions to the atmosphere and loss of low-latitude peat palaeorecords. Therefore, these palaeorecords are to be conserved and addressed for better understanding and utilizing the carbon pool for effective climate change adaptation. This communication is the first attempt of addressing the peat formation and peatland development during the Holocene from the tropical region of Peninsular India.

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Climate and Sea Level Changes in a Holocene Bay Head Delta, Kerala, Southwest Coast of India

Cited by 7 publications

References 11 publications

Long‐term evolution of the Old Rhine estuary: Unravelling effects of changing boundary conditions and inherited landscape

Long‐term evolution of the Old Rhine estuary: Unravelling effects of changing boundary conditions and inherited landscape

Holocene Monsoonal Variations Over Southern India: Looking Into Its Antecedents

Tropical Peat and Peatland Development in the Floodplains of the Greater Pamba Basin, South-Western India during the Holocene

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