HISTORICAL TREATISE OF SHORE DYNAMICS AND SPIT GROWTH NEAR KAKINADA COAST, GODAVARI DELTA, ANDHRA PRADESH

Abstract

India has 7517 km long coastline with major deltas on the east coast. Godavari delta is the 3rd largest, located in Andhra Pradesh, and it is familiar as rice bowl of the State. The presence of spit makes Kakinada a natural harbor. It is home for an anchorage port and a deep water port. Kakinada's deep-water port is the second largest in the state after Visakhapatnam port built in the year 1996.Hence its time sequential study is vital to understand the coastal processes and its environment. The study of multi-date remote sensing data and the historical maps revealed that during the period 1851-1893 the delta progradation is insignificant, but there was substantial growth from 1893-1957 to an extent of about 150 km2 at the rate of 1.66 km2 per year. For a period of 44 years i.e., from 1957-2001 the growth of the delta is marginal or almost stable. Again from 2001 onwards there is a steep growth in the delta development. There was a net increase of 178 km2 area from 1851-2008. The Kakinada spit growth was initially noticed during 1864 and maintained its present form since 1914 to date and forms a semienclosed water body, popularly known as Kakinada Bay. The spatial and temporal pattern of the spit lies in the North South direction, with little bulging and re-curvature towards in the Northwestern sector.