Controls of Decadal Scale Shoreline Changes along the West Coast of India: An example from the Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Time lapsed Satellite Imagery data for the years 2003 to 2019 along the Sindhudurg coastal tract have been used to decipher the decadal scale shoreline changes along the Indian West Coast margin. The sea level changes marked by shoreline are the artifacts of meteo-marine processes including the long duration changes in tidal and wind currents, longshore currents and the beach sedimentary/erosional processes. The sedimentary processes further include detrital pathways and coastal drainage patterns that are in turn governed by the morphotectonic features such as lineaments and faults in the area. The erosive and depositional activity is also implicated by the monsoonal variability. A collective assessment of all these factors for the northern sector from Devgad to Katvan beach observed for the period can be subdivided into two temporal zones of 2003 to 2011 as most dynamic activity, being reduced from 2011 till 2019. The southern sector from Tambaldeg to Tarkarli beaches is seen to have moderate to low dynamic changes. It is finally observed that the interaction of longshore currents with beach morphology is the chief mechanism that governs the decadal scale shoreline changes in the West coast of India.