TERIS OF SOUTHERN TAMIL NADU:

A HOLOCENE CLIMATE HISTORY

Thrivikramaji, K.P.1
Sabu Joseph2 and Anirudhan, S3
CED, Trivandrum, 2Dept. of Environmental Sciences,
1

University of Kerala, 3Dept. of Geology, University of Kerala,

Kariavattom 695 581
 Teris: What and Where?
• Foote (1883) – mapped the Red
sands- unique and spectacular
geomorphic feature of southern
Coastal Tamil Nadu- used the
Tamil word teri to designate
• Menon (1953) – proposed two-
process -types : the fixed teris &
mobile teris
 Teris: Gross aspects
• Unindurated to partly indurated &
large detached patches (area=
~500km2; thickness 1-12m), parallel
to modern sigmoidal shoreline.
• Two types :
• Inland (ITD)
• and Coastal (CTD) teris
The Teri Territory, Tamil
Nadu
Teri territory: Present climate
 Teris: Themes of analysis

Colour, texture &

mineralogy

 Clay minerals

 Geochemistry &

 Climate signatures or proxies

 Teris: Morphologic make up
 Aerial photos (1:50,000), toposheets
(1;50,000), field checks & mapping
 ITDs - pediments to the East of Western Ghats
– gently rolling ground – occasional small &
medium Bornhardts or residual hills of
basement rock –ephemeral gulleys
CTDs - nearly continuous, thick veneer of
sediment – moulded as dunes, infrequently
barchans, barchanoids, transverse dunes,
varying sizes and orientations, and interdune
sheets of sand
 Teris: Overall features

 Teris overlie crystalline basement (ITD),

limestone or younger calcareous
sandstone (CTD)

 Thickness variable, i.e., 1.0 –10.0m.

 Primary structures – hard to find in well

cuttings; on wind eroded surfaces
foresets visible; occasionally leeward &
or windward surfaces deductible
 Teris: Colour
 Some shade of red.

 yellowish red (5YR 4.5/6) through dark

reddish brown (2.5YR ¾) to dark red
(10R 3/6).
Hue: red (10R) and yellowish red (5YR)
Value: 3 to 6
Chroma: 4 to 8
 SAMPLING SCHEME

 103 surface samples were collected from

the teris.

 Samples from modern environments like

beach (n= 12), coastal dune (n= 12) and
rivers (n= 28)
Teris: Distribution of samples
 Teris: Matrix or Mud content

 ITDs show a wide range of mud

content (=10 – 50%, ave:=29.0)

 CTDs exhibit only a narrow spread

i.e., 1-29% (ave:=10.0)
 Teris: Texture
 ITDs - medium sized (ave.= 1.42Φ), poorly
sorted (1.08Φ), nearly symmetrically skewed
(0.04 ) and platykurtic (0.90). The range of
mean and poor sorting indicate proximity to
source and limited transport of sediments.

 CTDs- medium grained (1.79Φ), moderately

sorted (0.78Φ), positively skewed (0.12) and
mesokurtic (0.99). Majority (89%) has a
mean ranging between 1.5 – 2.23Φ).
LINEAR DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS
 LINEAR DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS

 Evidences & physical setting ITDs show a

fluvial environment

 Source sediment of CTDs originated

either in a beach or shallow marine
environment.
MULTI-GROUP DISCRIMINANT
ANALYSIS (MGDA)
 Teris: Framework minerals

 In ITD quartz (ave.=55.5%), followed by

feldspar (32.7%), opaques (4.84%),
sillimanite (2.4%) and garnet (1.37%).

 Minerals like zircon, rutile, monazite,

pyriboles and biotite present only in <1%
each (combined ave.=1.21%).
 In CTDs, enriched with significant content of
opaques and very subordinate amounts feldspar.

 The mineral composition shows 76.16% quartz,

11.7% opaques, 6.15% feldspar.
 Other minerals like zircon, rutile, monazite, and
garnet are present in <1% each. (combined
ave.=2.26%).

 \ Pyriboles (0.07%) and biotite (0.02) are only in

trace amounts.
 TERIS: CLAY MINERALS
 Based on IR, FTIR and XRDA analysis of clay
fraction, Kaolinite as the dominant phase, followed
by illite.

 ITDs, show comparatively large content of Kaolinite

(range = 74.5 to 76.5%) and much lower illite (range
= 23.5 to 25.5%).

 A similar picture of clay distribution is true for the

CTDs (Kaolinite = 69.0 to 76.2%; Illite = 23.8 to
31.0%).
 Teris: Basis of colour

 IR and FTIR spectral analysis of clay

fractions show absorption bands of
hematite, the cutan of teri sediment.

 In some regions it is geothite.

 Teris: Sources of colour

 Scarcity of garnet, highly corroded nature

when present, altered pyriboles, opaques
and feldspar, and abundance of the same in
the modern sediment,
 intra-stratal release of cutan and hence the
colour of teris.
 Teris: Sources of colour

• Almost uniform distribution of mud and

colour in the profiles, absence of primary
sedimentary structures, relic nature of
garnet and altered pyriboles are evidences
in support of autochthonous nature of red
pigment.
 Teris: Geochemistry

 In teris relatively large content of Fe (total

Fe as Fe2O3, ave.= 12.0 wt%; range= 5.43 –
24.9%.

 ITDs show lower (7.97%) Fe compared to

CTDs (12.63).
 Teris: Geochemistry
• The Al2O3 is the next abundant (ave.=
1.21; range= 0.61-2.66). ITD= 1.18, CTD=
1.22.

• CaO (ave.= 0.27; range= 0.00-0.9), Na2O

(ave.= 0.1; range= 0.02-0.27), K2O (av.
0.39; range= 0.04-0.95) and MgO (av.
0.35; range= 0.00-0.86) contents are very
low in teris.
 Teris: Geochemistry
• The Al2O3 is the next abundant (ave.=
1.21; range= 0.61-2.66). ITD= 1.18, CTD=
1.22.

• CaO (ave.= 0.27; range= 0.00-0.9), Na2O

(ave.= 0.1; range= 0.02-0.27), K2O (av.
0.39; range= 0.04-0.95) and MgO (av.
0.35; range= 0.00-0.86) contents are very
low in teris.
Teris: Chemical Index of Alteration
(CIA)

 CIA = Al2O3 / (Al2O3 + CaO + K2O + Na2O)

ITD= ave. 0.30; range= 0.29-0.36

 CTD= ave.0.63, range= 0.51-0.91
Teris: Total, combined, & free iron

 Teris have a relatively large content of

total Fe (as Fe2O3), ave.= 12.0 wt%;
range= 5.43 –24.9%.
 ITDs =7.97%; CTDs =12.63.

 The combined Fe ranges from 3.19 to 21.8.

(ave.= 8.72).
Teris: Total, combined, & free
iron
• ITDs= ave.5.08; range= 4.7-5.7
• CTDs= ave.= 9.3; range= 3.2-21.8.

• The Free Fe varies from 0.43 to 5.59

(ave= 3.2). ITD = 3.3; range= 1.7-3.5.
• CTD= 3.3; range= 0.43-5.6.
Teris: Model of mode of formation
 Based on geomorphic set up, textural analysis,
mineralogy it is inferred that the ancestral
sediment of ITDs originated as fluvial and
colluvial deposits dominated by river and sheet
flow processes.

 Parent material of CTDs very likely had a mixed

or multiple sources, i.e., beach and dune
sediments.
 Teris: A climate excursion

 During LGM (~18000 years B.P), sea level stood

lower (~ -90 to -120m.) and shoreline retreated a
few 10’s of km. seaward in regression exposing a
vast shelf area. Granular shelf sand was blown
shoreward by “ high velocity” Pleistocene winds.
 Resulted in vast expanses of coastal sand-sheets
and dunes - parent sediment of teris. A drier and
strong windier climate was reported during that
period.
 Teris: A climate excursion

• A shift from dry to sub-humid climate in

early Holocene, might have favoured the
rapid pedogenic rubefaction by intense
leaching of unstable minerals like garnet,
pyriboles, feldspar etc in the nearly
stabilized sand body with the formation of
a kaolinite matrix enriched with red cutan.
 Teris: A climate excursion

A reversal of the climate from sub-

humid to modern semi-aridity and the
onset of a wind regime (stronger than
present) might have moulded the
sediments into the sand sheets & dune
fields.
 Teris: Proxies of sub-humid
climate in early Holocene

 Paucity of unstable minerals like garnet,

pyriboles etc in stabilised teris and
abundance of the same in modern sediments
(beach, coastal dune, river).
 Near absence or partial/complete
kaolinisation of feldspar
 Absence of immature clays like
montmorillonite
 Teris: Proxies of sub-humid
climate in early Holocene

• Abundance of Kaolinite
• Brilliant red colour (2.5YR and 10R)
• Occurrence of a deep, uniformly
reddened sand body upto over 10m.
Teris: Proxies of present day semi-
aridity

 Illitisation of Kaolinite

 Occurrence of rhizolithic calcrete

 C14 dating of rhizolithic calcrete at a depth of
2.5m from the teris indicate that the today’s
semi-aridity should have set in at least as
way back as 3680+110 years B.P.
HAVE A NICE DAY