St. Mary's Islands
Thonsepar | |
|---|---|
Island | |
 | |
  St. Mary's Islands Location in Karnataka, India | |
| Coordinates: 13°22′46″N 74°40′23″E / 13.3795°N 74.6730°E | |
| Country | India |
| State | Karnataka |
| District | Udupi |
| Elevation | 10 m (30 ft) |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Kannada |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| Four Islands -Coconut Island, the North Island, the Daryabahadurgarh Island and the South Island | |
St. Mary's Islands, also known as Thonsepar, are a set of four small islands in the Arabian Sea, off the coast of Malpe in Udupi, Karnataka, India. They are known for their distinctive geological formation of columnar rhyolitic lava (pictured).[1]
Scientific studies indicate that the basalt of the St. Mary's Islands was formed by sub-aerial subvolcanic activity, because at that time Madagascar was attached to India. The rifting of Madagascar took place around 88 million years ago.[2]
Columnar rhyolite Lava here form one of the four geological monuments in Karnataka state, one of the 34 National Geological Monuments of India declared by the Geological Survey of India in 2016 for their protection, maintenance, promotion and enhancement of geotourism.[3][4][5][6] The monument is considered an important site for "Geo Tourism".
- ^ "Columnar Rhyolite". Geological Survey of India. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2008.
- ^ "Relative fall in Sea level in parts of South Karnataka Coast by K.R.Subramanya". Current Science Volume 75 Pages 727-730. Retrieved 25 January 2009.
- ^ "National Geological Monument, from Geological Survey of India website". Archived from the original on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
- ^ "Geo-Heritage Sites". pib.nic.in. Press Information Bureau. 9 March 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
- ^ national geo-heritage of India Archived 11 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine, INTACH
- ^ "Geo-Heritage Sites".