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Time and causes of submergence of ancient temple structures off Mahabalipuram, East Coast of India

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Title Time and causes of submergence of ancient temple structures off Mahabalipuram, East Coast of India
 
Creator Gaur, A S
Sundaresh
Agnihotri, R
Maurya, P
Jayakumar, S
Thorat, B R
 
Subject Coastal erosion
Cyclone/Tsunami
Marine growth
Radiocarbon dates
Sea level change
Submerged structures
 
Description 658-665
As per traditional belief, some part of the ancient town of Mahabalipuram had been submerged just off the shore temple
and this story has been recorded by the several British travelers during the 18th – 19th century. During the underwater
exploration of Mahabalipuram area in 2017, three sites along with a large number of scattered dressed stones were found in
the intertidal zone. Calcareous material grown over these stone structures after their submergence in seawater was subjected
to radiocarbon (14C) dating to infer submergence time-periods of these structures. Submergence date for the site I is the late
14th century CE; whereas the submergence date from the site II comes ~ 1st century CE. According to the water-depths from
where the studied structural remains were excavated, and obtained 14C dates of submergence, it could be surmised that these
stone-structures off Mahabalipuram town were submerged in two phases. The submergence might have been induced by
natural events such as coastal cyclone activity or Tsunami that flushed off sand around these structures and raised the sealevels
locally over the coast.
 
Date 2021-11-24T04:36:20Z
2021-11-24T04:36:20Z
2021-08
 
Type Article
 
Identifier 2582-6727 (Online); 2582-6506 (Print)
http://nopr.niscair.res.in/handle/123456789/58547
 
Language en
 
Publisher NIScPR-CSIR, India
 
Source IJMS Vol.50(08) [August 2021]