News : Erra Matti Dibbalu (red sand dunes) beside the Visakhapatnam– in Andhra Pradesh were added to the Tentative List of UNESCO Natural Heritage Sites.
About Erra Matti Dibbalu (red sand dunes)
- Location: It is also called the Red Sand Hills, it is located on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam along the Bay of Bengal coast.
- Origin: It was formed during the late Quaternary Age (about 2.6 million years), these deposits capture climate oscillations and sea-level changes, providing a stratigraphic record of landscape evolution.
- Discovery: The site was first documented in 1886 by British geologist William King.
- The landscape spans about 1,500 acres and displays rare coastal geomorphological formations.
- Importance: The striking red, sediment-derived dunes are an important sedimentary record that offers insights into past climatic conditions, with multi-layered sediments preserved in place.
- Recognition: It was declared a National Geo-heritage Monument in 2016 by the Geological Survey of India.
- Key feature
- It is composed of sand, silt, and clay. The red colour results from long-term natural oxidation.
- The red sediments form a continuing chapter in Earth’s evolution and represent the late Quaternary geologic age.
- It exhibits badland topography with different geomorphic landforms and features. These include gullies, sand dunes, buried channels, beach ridges, paired terraces, the “valley in the valley,” wave-cut terraces, knickpoints, and waterfalls.
- Dendritic drainage and well-preserved sediment layers that record sea-level and climate fluctuations.
- Extremely rare globally, with only two comparable sites: one in Sri Lanka and another in Tamil Nadu (Teri Sands).
