Shoreline Change Studies – A Case Study in the Cuddalore District, East Coast of Tamilnadu,

ABSTRACT: The shoreline is one of the rapidly changing coastal landforms. Shorelines are the key element in coastal GIS and provide the most information on coastal landform dynamics. Therefore, accurate detection and frequent monitoring of shorelines are very essential to understand the coastal processes and dynamics of various coastal features. The present study is to investigate the spatial as well as quantify the shoreline changes along the coast in the parts of Cuddalore district, east coast of Tamil Nadu by using geospatial techniques. The Survey of India topographic map, multi-temporal Indian Remote Sensing satellite data were used to extract the shorelines. The data is processed and analyzed by software like ERDAS image processing, ArcGIS respectively. The rates of shoreline changes are estimated by overlay analysis by using GIS environment. Due to length of the shoreline, the study area has divided into five segments namely A, B, C, D and E. The study reveals that most of the study area has been undergoing erosion around 3.21km 2 for the past four decades except Segment D. Both natural and anthropogenic processes along the coast modify the shoreline configuration and control the erosion, accretion activities of the coastal zones