Shoreline Changes in Tharangampadi Village, Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu, India—A Case Study

Coastal zone is very dynamic, being the meeting place of land and sea water. The development in coastal area and subsequent population growth have given rise to problems such as erosion, sedimentation, saltwater intrusion, degradation of natural resources, etc. Satellite data has proved to be more appropriate for change detections quantifying and monitoring coastal zones compared to conventional sources. An attempt is being made to elucidate the effect of shoreline changes with reference to the spatial and field data observed along the Tharangampadi area. The base map was prepared on 1:50,000 scale for delineation and identification of shoreline changes. The spatial variability of shoreline changes are studied using IRS 1B LISS-II 1991, IRS 1C LISS-III 2004 and IRS P6 LISS-IV and IRS 1D PAN merge data 2006. The corresponding Survey of India toposheets of 1852, 1972 and survey and land record village map of 1918 also supplemented for this study. The kind and extent of shoreline changes were investigated by using GPS during ground truth verification. The results are analyzed and presented in this paper. The study results revealed that 180 m receding of the shoreline occurred in the past 155 years.