ISLAND WIDE CONSTRUCTION RAW MATERIAL SURVEY REPORT ON VAVUNIYA DISTRICT by Mahesh Wickramasinghe Geologist Report No: MR/CRM/13/2018 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY & MINES BUREAU No. 569, Epitamulla Road Pitakotte July, 2018 1 CONTENTS Page 1. Introduction 04 2. Objectives 05 3. Methodology 05 4. Area and Boundary 05 5. Location and Accessibility 07 6. Climate 07 7. Physiography and Drainage 08 8. Outline of Geology 08 9. Construction Raw Materials 10 9.1 Rock 12 9.2 Gravel/Soil 15 9.3 Sand 17 10. Conclusions 18 11. Recommendations 19 Acknowledgements 20 References 21 2 List of Annexures 01 – Details of newly identified Rock occurrences in Vavuniya District 02 - Details of newly identified Gravel/Soil occurrences in Vavuniya District 03 – Working Rock quarries, Gravel/Soil pits and River sand deposits in Vavuniya District 04 – Construction Raw Material Resources Map of Vavuniya District 3 ISLAND WIDE CONSTRUCTION RAW MATERIAL SURVEY REPORT ON VAVUNIYA DISTRICT 12. Introduction Over the past two decades, state as well as private sector organizations initiated rapid development work throughout the country in a large scale. Of these projects, Port City development project, construction of expressways (i.e. Northern and Central expressways, extension of Southern expressway to Hambantota and Mattala), extension of Southern Railway line from Matara to Kataragama and construction of a massive building complex for the Ministry of Defense and Three Forces Head Quarters in Pelawatta and other government office complexes in Battaramulla, construction of irrigation and hydro power projects in many parts of the country, construction of multi storied apartment complexes in urban and suburban areas, are the most significant. For these projects, huge quantities of building raw materials (sand, rock and soil / gravel) are required. Being the regulatory authority on Mines and Minerals Act No. 33 of 1992 and amended Act No. 66 of 2009, it is the responsibility of the GSMB to identify mineral resources in the country, including building raw materials, required for various industries and development projects, initiated by the state as well as the private sector. In the recent past, the contractors of various development projects have complained about the difficulties faced by them when identifying suitable localities for extracting and supplying building raw materials needed for the major development projects, currently initiated in many parts of the country. This has resulted in delaying construction work of some of the government high priority development projects. This matter was reported to Mr. R. Paskaralingam, Senior Advisor to the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs by the relevant parties at the progress review meetings of the government development projects, held at the Ministry. Subsequently a request was made to the Director General, GSMB by Mr. R. Paskaralingam, to immediately initiate an island wide survey to identify minable locations of building raw materials (sand, rock and soil / gravel) and to estimate their resources in order to use them as per the requirements of the projects. Accordingly, GSMB has commenced an island wide construction raw materials survey in early 2017. This report including maps, tables and annexes is the output of the survey conducted in Vavuniya district. 4 13. Objectives The objectives of this survey are as follows. Conducting field surveys to identify suitable sites for mining construction raw material (sand, gravel and rocks) resources. Identification of mining related issues and environmental concerns. Preparation of construction raw material resources map. Assessment of mineable quantities of construction raw materials in identified locations and optimum extraction limits. 14. Methodology Initially, all the available data on construction raw material occurrences within the district were collected and a base map of construction raw materials for the district was prepared (both soft and hard copies). All topographic maps (1: 50,000) which cover entire district was also collected. After preparing all the documents, the assigned field crew left for Vavuniya to commence field investigations in mid-December 2017. The field camp was established in Thekkawaththa, which is situated near Vavuniya town. Field work in entire district was conducted in two and a half month period and during this period all the accessible areas in the district were investigated. After completing the field investigations, field crew returned to head office in late-February 2018 and commenced final map and report preparation work. 15. Area and Boundary Total land area of Vavuniya district is approximately 1,980 square kilometers. The district is bounded on the East by part of Anuradhapura district and part of Mullaithivu District, on the West by Mannar district on the North by Mullaithivu district and South by Anuradhapura district. The district comprises of four divisional secretarial divisions, namely, Nedunkerni (Vavuniya North), Vavuniya South Tamil, Vavuniya South Sinhala and Cheddikulam (Fig. 1). Number of Gramaniladhari divisions in Vavuniya district is 102 and there are 505 villages. 5 Figure – 1: Divisional Secretariat Divisions of Vavuniya District 6 16. Location and Accessibility The area covered by Vavuniya district lies within 1:50,000 sheets of Mankulam, Padawiya, Palampiddi, Madhu Road, Tanthrimale and Vavuniya. The main township in the district is Vavuniya while Cheddikulam, Puliyankulam, Kanakarayankulam, Omantei Irattaperiyakulam, Mamaduwa, Poowarasankulam, Parayanalankulam and Nedunkerni are the medium scale townships located within the district. Access to the Vavuniya district is manily through the Kandy – Jaffna (A 09) main road. The eastern part of the district can be accessed through the Vavuniya – Kebitigollewa (A 29) road while western part of the district could be reached by Vavuniya – Mannar (A 30) and Medawachchiya – Mannar (A 14) roads. Puliyankulam – Mullativu road lies within the NE part of the district. These main roads are connected by a fair network of provincial roads (C and D grade) and Pradesiya sabha roads (E and F grade). Colombo – Kankasanthurei and Colombo – Talaimannar railway lines are the two railway lines run across the district. Colombo – Kankasanthurei railway line extends from south of Irattaperiyakulam to Puliyankulam in N/NE direction and from Puliyankulam to South of Mankulam in N/NW direction. The Colombo – Talaimannar railway line extend from Neriyakulam to south of Madhu road in NW direction within the district. 17. Climate The area covered by Vavuniya district falls within the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka, where tropical dry climate is prevalent. Rainfall The area covered by the district receives somewhat low rainfall within a year. Annual rainfall figures in the district vary from 1000 – 1500mm. The area experiences heavy rain from October to December, during NE monsoonal season. In comparison, amount of rainfall receives during the rest of the year is considerably low. Monthly Average Temperatures The highest average monthly temperature is recorded in the months of June, July & August (360C) while the lowest average monthly temperature is encountered in the months of January and December (250C). The mean annual temperature is about 34Co. 7 18. Physiography and Drainage Physiographically the area covered by Vavuniya district belongs to lowest peneplain of Sri Lanka. The relief of the district varies from 100 – 200m above MSL. Generally, the area comprises flat terrain with small scattered hillocks present as inselbergs. The topography becomes more pronounced in SE sector while a flat terrain is identified in rest of the areas within the district. Madukanda, Thammannakanda and Welikanda are prominent strike ridge structures identified within the district. They are located in SE sector, representing higher elevations in the district. Within these ridge structures number of metal quarries are being operated. Major river systems are absent within Vavuniya district. However, number of small to medium scale streams are drained through the district and all of them are seasonal streams which are active only during NE monsoon period. Kanakarayan Aru, Chamali Aru, Kiul Aru, Chamalankulam Aru, Per Aru, Kal Aru and parts of Malwathu Oya are the main stream system draining within the district. These river systems show a remarkable variability in discharge during dry and wet seasons. One of the specialties of Vanni region is that the villages are named with the tanks. According to ancient chronicles, many tanks had been constructed during the period of Nagas by obstructing the rivers. The tanks had been constructed in the plains to store the water flowing in rainy seasons from the Central Highlands. As at present there are 719 medium and minor tanks available in Vavuniya district. The largest irrigation scheme of the district is Pavatkulam. This tank was constructed by obstructing the Kallaru River which flows through the Iratperiyakulam. There are several minor tanks in the areas to where the water flows from this tank. 19. Outline of Geology Ninety percent of the island of Sri Lanka is underlain by Proterozoic high grade metamorphic rocks with Quaternary sediments being restricted to the NW, N and NE coastal region as a narrow strip (Fig. 2). The Precambrian basement is divided into three major lithotectonic units, namely, Highland Complex (HC), Wanni Complex (WC) and Vijayan Complex (VC) (Fig. 2). Geologically, the entire Vavuniya district lies within the Wanni Complex (WC) of Sri