The coastal red sand dunes, popularly known as Erra Matti Dibbalu is a geological importance site located about 4 km southwest of Bheemunipatnam in Visakhapatnam.
Key points
- This site was declared as a geoheritage site by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) in 2014 and the Andhra Pradesh government has listed it under the category of ‘protected sites’ in 2016.
- Geologists say that this site has much significances geologically, archaeologically and anthropologically and it needs to be protected for further study and evaluation.
- This site needs to be protected to study the impact of climate change, as Erra Matti Dibbalu have seen both the glacial and the warm periods.
- The site is about 18,500 to 20,000 years old and it can be related to the last glacial period.
- Such sand deposits are rare and have been reported only from three places in the tropical regions in south Asia such as Teri Sands in Tamil Nadu, Erra Matti Dibbalu in Visakhapatnam and one more site in Sri Lanka.
- They do not occur in equatorial regions or temperate regions due to many scientificc reasons.
- The red sediments are a part of the continuation of the evolution of the earth and represent the late quaternary geologic age.
