On the Evolution of the Lagoon Barrier System Between N. Lats. 12°5' and 12°15', Cannanore District, Kerala

The Ettikulam lagoon and the lagoonal islets lying in the coastal plain of Cannan are District, Kerala form typical lagoon-barrier complex. A series of islets dot its full length, and some of the northern islets show a boomerang shape in plan. Other important components are the modern Ettikulam barrier, the Laccadive sea to the west and the coastal plain to the east. The islets occurring in the lagoon are interpreted as remnants of a barrier-dune complex, which was dismembered into fragments (sandy shoals) by storms in the Laccadive sea at a time when the sea-level was also on the rise (in the late Pleistocene). The storms also hastened the reduction of relief of the fragments or protoislets. The destructive phase of the islets terminated with the emergence of the modern Ettikulam barrier, giving the present configuration to the shoreline.

The onset of the new flow pattern, controlled by the two inlets, one off the mouth of Karingote river in the north and the other near Ramanthali in the south, led to further modification of the plan view of the islets giving a boomerang shape.

Evidences are also cited for the migration of the northern inlet and for the closure of the inlet near Ramanthali in the south, mainly due to littoral drift, sometime between 1914 and 1965.