Quaternary stratigraphy of the Koratallaiyar-Cooum basin,Chennai

In this paper we present Quaternary stratigraphy of the area around Chennai based on archaeological findings on the ferricrete surface, geomorphological observations supplemented by radiocarbon dating. The coastal landscape around Chennai, Tamil Nadu, has preserved ferruginised boulder gravel deposits, ferricretes and fluvial deposits of varying thickness. The area studied is approximately 150 km east to west and 180 km north to south with a broad continental shelf towards the seaward. Several rivers enter the Bay of Bengal along its shores like the Koratallaiyar, Cooum and the Adyar. Precambrian charnockite and Upper Gondwana sandstone and shale bedrock rim the shelf margin. For the most part, the Upper Pleistocene-Holocene fluvial sediments overlie an erosion surface that has cut into older Pleistocene sediments and ferricrete surface. Incised valleys that cut into this erosion surface are up to 5–6 km wide and have a relief of at least 30 m. The largest valley is that cut by the Koratallaiyar River. Holocene sediments deposited in the incised valleys include fluvial gravels, early transgressive channel sands and floodplain silts. Older Pleistocene sediments are deposited before and during the 120-ka high stand (Marine isotope stage 5). They consist of ferricretes and ferricrete gravel formed in nearshore humid environments. Muddy and sandy clastic sediments dated to the ca. 5 ka highstand suggest that the climate was semi arid at this time with less fluvial transport. The coarsening up sequence indicates deposition by high intensity channel processes. Pedogenic mottled, clayey silt unit represents an important tectonic event when the channel was temporarily drained and sediment were sub aerially exposed. Uplift of the region has caused the local rivers to incise into the landscape, forming degradation terraces.