ESTUARIES AND LATERAL CHANNEL DEVELOPMENT ALONG EAST COAST OF INDIA

Coastal corridor of India is the life line to many civilizations. The 2853km long east coast has huge continental self of 22411sqkm. Major east flowing rivers the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna and the Cauvery have huge sedimentary deposits in the offshore which are either subaqueous or sub aerial and developing estuaries or sand bars along the coastal interface. Geospatially cyclones, Tsunami, meteorological and geological extremes are conducive for change of the coast line. Continuous formations of bars and spits along the shore front have changed the configuration of river outlets. Sediment deficit from inland rivers, formation of lateral parallel channels along offshore have been observed in the in the river mouth for last 10 to 12 years. In the present study, the satellite imageries are used to establish the reformation in the river outlets. The changes initiated by bar formation bendingof river mouths to north are prominent from the Subarnarekha to Godavari mouth. Coriolis force, human interventions, wind, tides and bay disturbances were studied for last two decades to establish such diversion. The present study enumerates the causes and effects of northerly movement of river outlets, formation of sand bars and development of estuariesalong east coast and sedimentary input to Bay of Bengal.