2. Coastline of Tamil Nadu The Coastline of Tamil Nadu is located on the southeast coast of Indian
Peninsula, and forms a part of Coromandel Coast of Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean. It is 1,076 km
(669 mi) long and is the second-longest coastline in the country after Gujarat.Chennai, the capital of
the state and an important commercial and industrial center in the country is located in the
northern part of the coast with Kanniyakumari, forming the southern tip where Indian Ocean, Bay
of Bengal and Arabian Sea meet. It also shares maritime border with Sri Lanka across the Palk strait
in Gulf of Mannar. The coastal corridor consists of 13 districts with 15 major ports and harbors,
sandy beaches, lakes and river estuaries.
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4. GEOGRAPHY
The coastal stretch extends for 1,076 km (669 mi)
from Pazhaverkadu of Thiruvallur district to
Ezhudesam of Kanniyakumari district.
Kanniyakumari, forms the southernmost tip of the
Indian subcontinent where Indian Ocean, Bay of
Bengal and Arabian Sea meet. Pamban Island
forms part of Ramanathapuram district separating
Gulf of Mannar and Palk strait with the Ram Setu
connecting it with Sri Lanka. There are 13 districts
that share the coastline namely Thiruvallur,
Chennai, Kanchipuram, Villupuram, Cuddalore,
Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Pudukottai,
Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and
Kanyakumari.
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5. HISTORY
The coast of Tamil Nadu was a part of ancient silk route
and played an important role in spice trade with
western empires. Roman and Greek traders frequented
the ancient Tamil country securing trade with the
seafaring Tamil states of the Pandyan, Chola and Chera
dynasties and establishing trading settlements which
secured trade with South Asia by the Greco-Roman
world since the time of the Ptolemaic dynasty a few
decades before the start of the Common Era and
remained long after the fall of the Western Roman
Empire.Major ports included Uraiyur, Korkai,
Poompuhar and Kaveripattinam. The ancient city of
Poompuhar was destroyed by the sea around 300 BC.
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6. HEADING 03
During the reign of Raja Raja Chola I and his successors Rajendra Chola I,
Virarajendra Chola and Kulothunga Chola I the armies of the Chola
Dynasty invaded Sri Lanka, Maldives and some parts of Southeast Asia like
Malaysia, Indonesia and Southern Thailand of the Sri Vijaya Empire in the
11th century. Raja Raja Chola I launched several naval campaigns that
resulted in the capture of Sri Lanka, Maldives and the Malabar Coast. In
1025, Rajendra Chola, the Chola king from Coromandel in South India,
launched naval raids on ports of Srivijaya in Southeast Asia and against
the Burmese kingdom of Pegu, and conquered parts of Srivijaya in
Malaysia and Indonesia and the Tambralinga Kingdom in Southern
Thailand and occupied it for some time. A second invasion was led by
Virarajendra Chola of the Chola dynasty who conquered kedah in
Malaysia of Sri Vijaya in the late 11th century
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7. 7
SEA -TRADE
Tamil Nadu has major seaports at Chennai, Ennore,
Tuticorin and Nagapattinam. There are 11 other minor
ports. Chennai Port is an artificial harbor and is India's
second busiest container hub.
Because of
its shallow waters,Sethusamudram—the sea separating
Sri Lanka from India—presents a hindrance to navigation
through the Palk Strait. Though trade across the India-Sri
Lanka divide has been active since at least the first
millennium BCE, it has been limited to small boats and
dinghies. Larger oceangoing vessels coming from the
West have had to navigate around Sri Lanka to reach
India' eastern coast. The Sethusamudram Shipping Canal
Project is a proposed project to create a shipping route in
the shallow straits between India and Sri Lanka which
would provide a continuously navigable sea route around
the Indian Peninsula.
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8. FISHING AND AQUACULTURE
The state has a fishermen population of 1.05 million
and the coast consists of 3 major fishing harbors, 3
medium fishing harbors and 363 fish landing centers.
The marine fishing output from the state contributes
to 10-12 % of the total marine fish production in India
and is estimated at 0.72 million tonnes. Aquaculture
include shrimp, sea weed, mussel, clam and oyster
farming
There have been several alleged incidents of Sri
Lankan Navy personnel firing on Indian fishermen
fishing in the Palk Strait, where India and Sri Lanka are
only separated by 12 nautical miles. Indian
Government protests periodically against Sri Lankan
navy for its alleged involvement in attacks on Indian
fishermen. The incidents continue to happen and
over 530 fishermen have been killed in the last 30
years
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9. WEATHER PATTERNS
The Bay of Bengal is responsible for
the formation of some of the strongest and
deadliest tropical cyclones in the world. The
basin is abbreviated "BOB" by the India
Meteorological Department (IMD), the official
Regional Specialized Meteorological Center of
the basin .The basin is mostly affected by
tropical cyclone.
According to official estimates, more
than 10,000 people were killed and hundreds
of thousands made homeless when a tsunami
triggered by the 2004 Indian Ocean
earthquake near the Indonesian island of
Sumatra struck the southern coast of Tamil
Nadu on 26 December 2004. The earthquake
registered 9.1–9.3, and was the largest in five
decades 9
10. EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING
The fact that sea level would rise due to global
warming is not doubted.
Even by the conservative estimate of 1 m rise in
the next forty years, nearly 2,000 square kilometres
along the coast would be permanently inundated. But
the total area at risk would be six times as much
The estimate is
based on a preliminary analysis of the replacement
value of major infrastructure, cost of wetland damage,
and the market value of land at risk from a conservative
estimate of 1 metre rise in sea level by 2050.
For the remaining eight coastal districts, only areas that
are below 5 metres above today's mean sea level
would be at risk from 1 m sea level rise. Based on these
estimates, the total replacement value of infrastructure
— port, power plants and major roads in Tamil Nadu —
is calculated to be between Rs.47,418 and Rs.53,554
crores in 2010 terms
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11. BEACHES
There are numerous beaches along the
coast.A beach is a landform alongside a body of
water which consists of loose particles. The
particles composing a beach are typically made
from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle,
pebbles. The particles can also be biological in
origin, such as mollusc shells or coralline algae.
Some beaches have man-made infrastructure,
such as lifeguard posts, changing rooms,
showers, shacks and bars. They may also have
hospitality venues (such as resorts, camps,
hotels, and restaurants) nearby Marina Beach
in Chennai covering a distance of 13 km (8.1 mi)
is the longest natural urban beach in the
country and the world's eleventh-longest
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12. MARINA BEACH
Marina Beach is a natural urban beach in
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, along the Bay of
Bengal.[1] The beach runs from near Fort St.
George in the north to Foreshore Estate in the
south, a distance of 6.0 km (3.7 mi), making it the
longest natural urban beach in the country. The
Marina is primarily sandy, unlike the short The
average width of the beach is 300 m (980 ft) and
the width at the widest stretch is 437 m (1,434 ft).
Bathing and swimming at the Marina Beach are
legally prohibited because of the dangers, as the
undercurrent is very turbulent. It is one of the
most crowded beaches in the country and attracts
about 30,000 visitors a day during weekdays and
50,000 visitors a day during the weekends and on
holidays. During summer months, about 15,000
to 20,000 people visit the beach daily
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13. FLORA AND FAUNA
The Gulf of Mannar Marine National
Park is a protected area of India consisting
of 21 small islands (islets) and adjacent
coral reefs in the Gulf of Mannar. It lies
between Thoothukudi and Dhanushkodi.
It is the core area of the Gulf of Mannar
Biosphere Reserve which includes a 10
km buffer zone around the park, including
the populated coastal area. The park has
a high diversity of plants and animals in
its marine, intertidal and near shore
habitats. About 510 (23%) of the 2,200 fin
fish species in Indian waters are found in
the Gulf, making it the most highly diverse
fish habitat in India
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