Some aspects of geomorphic processes along the Goa coast through remote sensing

This paper deals with the processes operating on the beaches of Goa, interpreted from imagery, followed by ground-truth collection and field checks. Studies on Landsat imagery bring out two distinct coastal geomorphological features, one north and the other south of Vasco-da-Gama. The beaches to the south indicate the prograding shoreline with deposition being the dominant phenomenon. The beaches to the north of Vasco-da-Gama reveal a retrograding shoreline where erosion is dominant. The presence of chimneys and stacks to the north of Vasco-da-Gama are characteristic of intensive erosional action while to the south a wide regular beach backed by a palaeo-strand line points to deposition. The pattern of the sediment load (in Band 4) is used as an index of longshore current movement. The action of erosion as against that of deposition in the two regions can be surmised from the diffused pattern vis-a-vis the uniformly wide even tone. Sand samples from the northern portion give a sorting coefficient of 1.100 while the southern portion shows a value of 0.712. It is hypothesised that the promontory on which Vasco-da-Gama lies is responsible for the formation of two different geomorphic zones.