Fossils prove Perambalur was under sea once

Geologists appeal the government to maintain these evidences to ensure the youngsters learn the history of the landscape and Perambalur. The combined Perambalur district (the present Ariyalur and Perambalur districts) has been explaining that the limestone sediments, found in abundance, were of a marine origin and they were deposited by a geological event termed as marine transgression.

“The sea seems to have invaded the land between Puducherry in the north to Karaikal in the south and stayed for around 81 million years, and then for reasons unknown, seems to have regressed back to its present location,” says Environmental activist Ramesh Karuppiah. Having covered over one lakh hectares, the sea has left behind fossil traces of marine life making the region a geologist’s treasure trove.

In Perambalur district alone, the geological treasures are still found in around 20 villages in Alathur and Veppur unions and fossils of several marine life are unearthed in the present-day agricultural lands. But still, around 1,400 acre land in the villages of Karai, Koukanatham. Ayanavaram, Sathanur and Kunnam areas have been left abandoned or poorly maintained. Originally in the sea bed, the land used to have dunes of sand that support thorny scrubs. But over the decades, most of it has been flattened out for cultivation of cotton and a few other crops, Karuppiah said. The much larger site at Karai, falling under the Perambalur district, also needs to be declared a geological monument and preserved by the government, Karuppiah felt.

Meanwhile, in 2016, a geographical expert Neelakandan from Cuddalore, who has worked in several such fields, had studied the spots and after the field verification and study, asked the government to upkeep the spots for the benefit of the future generation.

Subsequently, in November 2018, the officials from the Tourism Department and the HR and CE Department had visited the spot and recovered the fossil evidence and declared that the spot needed to be declared as fossils-projected spots. However, no step has so far been initiated.

But still, the fossils that of marine lives, including sea snails, are being unearthed now and then and even the land between Kadur and Yelaakurichi villages in Ariyalur district is covered by yellowed limestone peaking with infinite instances of white carbonate fossils. The 25-km stretch with a depth of 20 metres was the deepest part of the sea, says Neelakandan.

Neelakandan said that the nearly 300 types of fossils found here are also high-grade limestone and it is needed to establish a fossil gallery so that the younger generation would get to know. Karuppiah urged the government to initiate steps to take control of this spot under the Geological Research Centre and take steps to establish a tourism centre and display the discovered fossils. He also urged the department to organise training classes for the students who could get to know the evolution.