Coast & Islands
India’s ancient ports moved because rivers silt up and coastlines shift
The great trading harbours of the past sat on river mouths, and the same sediment that made those mouths…
· 3 min read
Coast & Islands
Shorelines and islands, and the monsoon calendar that governs them.
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Coast & Islands
The sea breeze is why a coastal afternoon is bearable and an inland one is not
Land heats faster than water, and the circulation that difference creates arrives on the shore in the…
· 3 min read
Coast & Islands
Turtles nest on Indian beaches in the dark, which is what makes lights a problem
Sea turtles come ashore on particular stretches of coast in the cooler months, and the hatchlings navigate…
· 3 min read
Coast & Islands
The backwaters are a drainage system with a tourist fleet on it
Kerala’s inland waterways are a chain of lagoons and canals sitting behind a sandbar, and almost everything…
· 3 min read
Coast & Islands
India has four coral regions and each one is reached differently
Reef-building coral grows only where the water is warm, clear and shallow enough, which restricts it to a…
· 3 min read
Coast & Islands
A sea fort was built to control a harbour, and the tide decides when you visit
The forts along India’s coasts exist because several powers were competing for the same trade at the same…
· 3 min read
Coast & Islands
A salt coast is a landscape made by evaporation
India produces most of its salt by letting the sun take the water out of seawater in shallow ponds, and the…
· 3 min read
Coast & Islands
Sea air is slowly taking apart India’s shore monuments
Salt spray, wind-driven sand and a permanently damp atmosphere attack coastal stone in ways that inland…
· 3 min read