When we think of beach, we suddenly have a flash of glimmering white sands, clear blue waters, palm trees and sunbeds. But now for a change, let’s imagine that waves of ocean reaches your legs, feel the sand squishing slowly through your toes, except this time, the sand ain’t white — it’s a beautiful shade of jet black.
How does the black sands are formed especially in India?
It is formed due to the natural phenomenon of the waves coming and hitting the basaltic rocks, or it is formed when the lava from the volcanoes makes a contact with the sea water.
Another belief is that the Arabian sea brings along the black sand of river to the shores.
Most of the Black Sand beaches are located along the West Coast of India.
What does Black Sands contain?
The minerals present in the black sands are :
- Augite,
- Hornblende,
- Magnetite,
- Thorium,
- Titanium,
- Tungsten,
- Zirconium,
- High iron content
Specialties of Black Sand Beaches:
It has both useful and adverse effects. They are:
- It attracts tourism.
- Due to the minerals present in it, it has some glittering nature.
- The black sands absorb more solar energy than the normal sands.
- Walking on the Black sands barefoot, causes burns.
- It also causes some genetic disorders among the local tribals due to the presence of excess of minerals.
Black Sand Beaches in India:
- Kovalam Beach, Trivandrum, Kerala👇
- Tilmati Beach, Karnataka👇
- Navapur Beach, Maharashtra👇
- Dumas Beach, Gujarat 👇
The dark side of Black Sand Beaches at Kerala :
Due to some valuable minerals present in the sea shores of Kovalam beach, illegal mining is carried out in a large scale. Legal mining is also carried out in a large scale so that the livelihood of several locals have been affected.
How does it give a way for Mining?
Kerala is well known for the coconut trees over there. The ropes made in Kerala are traded to many countries across the globe. To ensure the increased weigh of the ropes, they are mixed with the beach sand i.e., black sand. One of the Germans, by noticing some glittering thing in the rope, taken those ropes for testing. Finally, he came up with the results of valuable minerals in the soil.
To extract those minerals, Mining is carried out both legally and illegally along the shores of Kerala.
In the legal mining, two public firms are involved:
- The Indian Rare Earths Limited [IREL]
- Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited [KMML]
After effects of Mining:
- Coastal erosion
- Loss of livelihood
- Invasion of sea into the land
- Salt water intrusion in the underground water in the nearby areas
- During heavy downpours, the mined area will be subjected to floods.
