Geomorphology of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

The major geomorphic units of the town of Visakhapatnam are the hill slope elements of free face and debris slope, along with piedmont fans, colluvium and pediment. Waltair Uplands are mainly made up of small detached hills, large accumulations of red sands, often dissected into miniature badlands, and patches of dune sands. Laterites are present both as altered product of hard rock as weIl as colluvium. The coastal zone contains stacks, wave-cut platform, beach and sand dunes. A study of logs of more than 1000 bores put in the tidal basin and features reported and observed here and elsewhere along the coast indicates that during the commencement of Holocene (since 10,000 years B.P.), the sea level might have been about 7 metres higher than the present sea level before it went down to as low as 25 metres and rising again to the present level.