Tamil Nadu - Geography
The State of Tamil Nadu is situated in the southern part of the country between north latitude 8° 5' and 13° 35' east longitude between 76° 15' and 80° 20'1. The total area of the State is 1,30,058 sq.km making it the eleventh largest State in the country. Tamil Nadu has 32 districts.
Tamil Nadu is one of the important Coastal States having a coastline of 1076 km. To its east is the Bay of Bengal and at its southernmost tip is the town of Kanyakumari, which is the meeting point of the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean. It has a long coastline and the Eastern Ghats (mountain range) run parallel to the same. The coastal plains run north to South. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh surround Tamil Nadu on the North while Kerala lies to the West. The waters of the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean surround the coastal eastern and southern boundaries of the state. The northern extreme of Tamil Nadu is Pulicat Lake while the southernmost tip is Cape Comorin or Kanyakumari.
Tamil Nadu can be divided broadly into two natural divisions (a) the coastal plains and (b) the hilly western areas. The average temperature in the plains varies between a minimum of 21.6o C to a maximum of 31.8o C and in the hilly areas varies between a minimum of 9.4o C to a maximum of 22.8oC.
The Eastern and Western Ghats meet in Tamil Nadu and run along the state's eastern and western borders. Hill stations like Udhagamandalam (Ooty), Kodaikanal, Kothagiri and Yercaud are situated in this hilly region. It is interesting to note that there are only two major gaps (Palakkad gap and Shencottah gap) into the long chain of hills that border western Tamil Nadu. In a marked contrast to the low rocky hills of the Eastern Ghats, the hills of the Western Ghats have dense forests. This region receives plentiful rainfall and the scenic valleys here are dotted with tea, spice and coffee plantations. The upper reaches of Eastern Ghats are famous for their fruit orchards, banana and coffee plantations.
The north-western, western and southern parts are hilly and rich in vegetation, with the Western Ghats effectively blocking much of the rain bearing clouds of the south west monsoon from entering the State. The eastern parts are fertile coastal plains and the northern parts are a mix of hills and plains. The central and the south central regions are arid plains and receive less rainfall than the other regions. Since Tamil Nadu is heavily dependent on monsoon rains for recharging its water resources, monsoon failures lead to acute water scarcity and severe drought. The normal annual rainfall of the State is about 908 mm of which 48 percent is through the north east monsoon and 32 percent through the south west monsoon.
Tamil Nadu includes a wide range of biomes, extending east from the south Western Ghats, montane rain forests in the Western Ghats through the south Deccan plateau, dry deciduous forests and Deccan thorn scrub forests to tropical dry broadleaved forests and then to the beaches, estuaries, salt marshes, mangroves, and coral reefs of the Bay of Bengal.
Cauvery basin in Tamil Nadu is one of the potential areas for crude oil and natural gas. Tamil Nadu has at present 28 oil and Gas fields. Tamil Nadu has 2 refineries belonging to CPCL, one at Chennai (9.5 million MT) and the other in Panagudi (Narimanam) at Nagapattinam (1.0 Million MT). Nagarjuna Oil Corporation is currently setting up an oil refinery at Cuddalore with a capacity of 6.0 Million MT.
Heavy mineral deposits in beach sands are found in the Southern coast of Tamil Nadu. The important minerals available are Garnet, Ilmenite, Rutile, Sillimanite and Zircon. Indian Rare Earth located at Manavalakurichi in Kanyakumari is extracting the minerals from beach sand. Red sands or Teri sand are extensive along the Southeast coast of Tamil Nadu. They are of aeolian origin, that are red sediments and are basically deposited as windblown sands derived from the coastal dunes and beaches and are likely to contain heavy minerals of economic potential.
The coastline of Tamil Nadu constitutes about 15 percent of the total coastal length of India. The Tamil Nadu coast comprises of the Coramandel coast from Pulicat Lake in the north to Point Calimere and the Gulf of Mannar, which extends up to the tip of Kanyakumari and this is the southernmost point of the Indian Peninsula.
The entire region is well known for the range of ecosystems that comprise of sandy shores, estuaries, mangrove forests, sea grass beds, seaweeds and coral reefs. Fringing and patch reefs are present near Rameswaram and Gulf of Mannar. Pitchavaram, Vedaranyam and Point Calimere have well-developed mangrove systems. In Tamil Nadu about 46 rivers drain into Bay of Bengal forming several estuaries and coastal lagoons. The Cauvery River and its tributaries form a large delta supporting extensive agriculture. The other landforms of the Tamil Nadu coast are rock outcrops of Kanyakumari, mudflats, beaches, spits, coastal dunes and strand features. Deposition is observed at Point Calimere, Nagapattinam, South Chennai, etc., while erosion is reported at Ovari Paravarnattam, Mahabalipuram and North Chennai near Ennore.
The Tamil Nadu coastline has several small existing and potential mangrove sites. The total mangrove cover of the State is 39 sq.km. The major mangrove areas are Muthupet in Thiruvarur district and Pichavaram in Cuddalore district and other districts with smaller mangroves are Ramanathapuram, Thanjavur and Thoothukudi.
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