DISTRICT SURVEY REPORT CUDDALORE DISTRICT DISTRICT ENVIRONMENT IMPACT ASSESSMENT AUTHORITY (DEIAA), CUDDALORE 1 DISTRICT ENVIRONMENT IMPACT ASSESSMENT AUTHORITY (DEIAA), CUDDALORE DISTRICT CONTENT Chapters 1.Introduction Page No. Introduction 01 History 02 Land utilisation 02 1 Population 03 Drainage 04 Climate and Rainfall 04 Geomorphology 05 Ground water 06 Soil 07 Industries 07 2.Geology of the area 08 2.1.Achaeans 09 2.2.Cretaceous 10 2.2.1. Ariyalur Group 10 2 2.3.Tertiary 10 2.3.1. Neyveli Formation 11 2.3.2. Cuddalore Formation 11 2.4. Quaternary Formation 12 2.5. Structure: 13 2.6. Pediment and Pediplain/sediplain 14 2.7. Land use and Land cover 14 3. Mineral wealth of Cuddalore District. 15 3.1. Lignite: 15 3.2. Limestone: 16 3.3. Natural Gas: 18 3 3.4. Laterite : 19 3.5. Sands stone: 19 3.6. Silica sand: 20 3.7.Silica sand and other older sediments 20 3.9. Beach Sands 21 4 4. Mining and quarrying in Cuddalore districts 22 4.1. Details of Existing Quarries 22 4.2. The list of Mining Lease details 23 5 5. Conclusion and recommendation: 38 List of plates Plate -1 Location map of Mines, Quarry and industry Plate -2 District Resource map of Cuddalore District 2 DISTRICT SURVEY REPORT CUDDALORE DISTRICT Introduction: The Cuddalore district is bounded in Latitude 11°11” and 12° 5”N Longitude78° 38” and 80° 00” E covered in an area of 3678 Sq.kms . It is bounded on the north by Viluppuram District, on the east by the Bay of Bengal, on the south by Nagapattinam District, and on the west by Perambalur District. The headquarters of the Cuddalore district is Cuddalore (11°44' 45" N and 79°45'56" E), a large industrial town which has experienced coastal development at a rapid rate. Cuddalore is situated about 160 kms south of Chennai, the state capital ( Fig.1.1). The district is drained by Gadilam and Pennaiyar rivers in the north, Vellar and Kollidam River (Coleroon) in south. The coastal stretch of Cuddalore extends from Gadilam estuary in the north to Pichavaram mangroves in the south, a total length of 42 km along the Bay of Bengal. The Bay of Bengal experiences severe tropical cyclones during the northeast monsoon (October through December), and nearly 60 cyclonic storms and SCS have been reported in the past century (Indian Meteorology Department (IMD) eAtlas 2011). An added risk factor is that large parts of this coastal zone are low-lying with a gentle slope, resulting in wide inundation areas, thus increasing the vulnerability of the region. Figure 1.1. Showing location map of Cuddalore District: 3 History: From ancient times the old town has been a seaport. For two centuries, Cuddalore had been subject to a number of foreign powers including the Netherlands, Portugal, France and more recently, the British. In the early 17th century, the Dutch obtained permission from the ruler of Cuddalore to build a fort there, but political pressure from their Portuguese rivals forced them to abandon it. Later, the French and English came to Cuddalore for trade and business. The French established a settlement 10 miles up the coast at Pondicherry in 1674, followed in 1690 by the British settlement of Fort St. David at Cuddalore. During the 18th century various wars between the European powers spilled over to their colonial empires, and to their allies, including those in the Indian sub-continent. During this period the French and British fought several times in the area. In 1746, during First Carnatic War, part of the War of the Austrian Succession, French forces besieged the British at Fort St. David for several months before being driven off in 1747. In 1758, during the Seven Years' War, the Fort was taken by the French, and there was an inconclusive naval action, the Battle of Cuddalore, off the coast. The fort was later abandoned, in 1760, when the British attacked Pondicherry. In 1782, during the Second Anglo-Mysore War, at the time of the American War of Independence, the French again took Cuddalore, and were besieged there in 1783 by the British. During the siege French and British naval forces again clashed off the Cuddalore coast. The siege failed, but the fort was returned to the British in 1795. In all there were five different naval actions off the coast during this period, all of which were indecisive. Some streets in Cuddalore retain their British names, such as Clive Street, Wellington Street, Sloper Street, Canning Street, Rope Street (Rope Street, Wellington Street, Sloper Street and Canning Street jointly known as Salangukara Village), Lawrence Road and Imperial Road. The Cuddalore Central Prison, opened in 1865, is a historically important landmark. Subramania Bharati and other political leaders served prison terms there. Land utilization: It is a predominately agricultural district with the coastline stretching from the Puducherry Union Territory in the north to the mouth of the River Coleroon in the south. The total geographical area of the district is 3706 km2 with a coast line of about 54 kms. It is 19th largest district in Tamil Nadu and ranked 332 in India in terms of total area. The district is 11th most populous district out of 32 districts in Tamil Nadu and it is 158th most populous 4 district in India. It is 7th most densely populated district in Tamil Nadu and 168th most densely populated bdistrict out of total 640 districts in India. Cuddalore District comprises 9 taluks, 14 Blocks, 5 Municipalities and 18 Town Panchayats shown in Fig1.2. Figure 1.2. Showing Taluk and Blocks of Cuddalore District: Population: According to 2011 census, Cuddalore district had a population of 2,605,914 with a sex-ratio of 987 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. A total of 279,950 were under the age of six, constituting 147,644 males and 132,306 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 29.32% and .6% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the district was 69.66%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. Table 1.1 .Population details of Cuddalore district: ITEM INDIA TAMIL NADU CUDDALORE Population (No.) 1,21,01,93,422 7,21,38,958 26,00,880 Male (No.) 62,37,24,248 3,61,58,871 13,11,151 Female (No.) 58,64,69,174 3,59,80,087 12,89,729 Sex Ratio (per 1000) 940 995 984 Density (No./km2) 382 555 702 Area 3,287,240 Km2 1,30,058 Km2 3706 Km2 Literacy (%) 74.04 80.33 79.06 5 The Cuddalore district had a total of 635,578 households. There were a total of 1,169,880 workers, comprising 136,035 cultivators, 325,599 main agricultural labourers, 19,151 in house hold industries, 356,486 other workers, 332,609 marginal workers, 29,135 marginal cultivators, 213,813 marginal agricultural labourers, 12,876 marginal workers in household industries and 76,785 other marginal workers.[4] The district has a population density of 702 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,820/sq mi). Drainage : Cuddalore is located at 11.75°N 79.75°E. It has an average elevation of 6 m (20 ft). The land is completely flat with large deposits of black and alluvial soil inland and coarse sand near the seashore. The sandstone deposits in the town are popular. The Pennayar River runs north of the town, while Gadilam River runs across it. Cuddalore is situated at a distance of 200 km (120 mi) from the state capital Chennai and 18 km (11 mi) from Puducherry, the neighbouring union territory. The nearest airport is at Chennai, 200 kilometres (120 mi) from Cuddalore. The period from November to February in Cuddalore is pleasant, with a climate full of warm days and cool nights. The onset of summer is from March, with the mercury reaching its peak by the end of May and June. The average temperatures range from 37 °C (99 °F) in January to 22.5 °C (72.5 °F) in May and June. Summer rains are sparse and the first monsoon, the South-West monsoon, sets in June and continues till September. North- East monsoon sets in October and continues till January. The rainfall during South-West monsoon period is much lower than that of North-East monsoon. The average rainfall is 1,400 mm (55 in), most of which is contributed by the North-East monsoon. Climate and Rainfall: The climate in general is moderately hot and humid tropical. The Mean Maximum temperature from January to June varies from 28øC to 34øC. It has hot summer and insignificant to mild winter with moderate to heavy rainfall. The area is affected mainly by NE monsoon with some evening showers during SW monsoon. The average rainfall details are shown in figure 1.3. 6 Table 1.2.: Rain fall Data of Cuddalore district: S.No Year South West (mm) North East (mm) Total 1 2003 434.0 915.7 1349.7 2 2004 437.9 908.5 1346.4 3 2005 340.3 1346.1 1686.4 4 2006 246.5 1007.3 1253.8 5 2007 330.5 837.7 1168.2 6 2008 280.8 1136.5 1417.3 7 2009 278.0 960.5 1238.5 8 2010 362.9 1043.7 1406.6 9 2011 424.6 873.4 1298.0 10 2012 245.5 587.8 833.3 Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Average 28.1 29.2 31.1 33.2 36.1 37.0 35.5 34.6 34.0 31.7 29.1 28.0 32.3 high °C (82.6) (84.6) (88) (91.8) (97) (98.6) (95.9) (94.3) (93.2) (89.1) (84.4) (82.4) (90.16) (°F) Average 20.8 21.2 23.0 25.8 27.1 27.0 26.1 25.4 25.1 24.3 22.8 21.5 24.18 low °C (°F) (69.4) (70.2) (73.4) (78.4) (80.8) (80.6) (79) (77.7) (77.2) (75.7) (73) (70.7) (75.51) Average 30 36.8 11 21.5 71 70 85 144 129 247 330 216 1,391.3 rainfall mm (1.18) (1.449) (0.43) (0.846) (2.8) (2.76) (3.35) (5.67) (5.08) (9.72) (12.99) (8.5) (54.775) (inches) Figure 1.3.