Abstract
The Ongole coastal dunefield (OCD) is about 20 km long and 2.5 to 3 km wide, and is located to the east of Ongole town between the mouth of the Paleru river in the south and a small creek in the north. Much of the dunefield lies 3–5 m above sea level with some large dune ridges reaching 10–12 m. The area landward of the dune field consists of an extensive marsh. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of 12 sub-surface sediments from three sites near the western edge of the dunefield gives almost concurrent age of 5.1±0.4 ka. Radiocarbon dating of one shell from a similar location also corroborates the OSL age while the age of another shell taken closer from the modern shoreline gives a date of 3.29±0.5 ka. The age of the deposits and morphology of the dunefield indicate that it was probably initiated on some form of barrier system at the end of the Holocene transgression.
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Acknowledgements
DK and DVR are thankful to the Director, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute for support to carry out the work. We are also grateful to the technical staff of our laboratory and the project fellows who have helped in the sample analysis. We offer our sincere thanks to an anonymous reviewer whose constructive comments have helped to improve the manuscript. The CSIR-NGRI has assigned the number NGRI/Lib/2020/Pub-119 to this manuscript. Part of the work was funded under the 12 FYP Project No. PSC-0204 (INDEX).
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Kumar, D., Reddy, D.V. & Davidson-Arnott, R. Characterising the Ongole Coastal Dunefield of SE India: Formation and Temporal Constraints. J Geol Soc India 96, 565–572 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-020-1603-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-020-1603-0