Lakshadweep Islands

Also called: Lakshadweep, Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands · Topic: Structure and Physiography of India: Himalayas, Plains, Peninsula, Coasts and Islands · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 2 "Oceans and Continents"; Class 7, Ch 1 "Geographical Diversity of India"; Class 11, Ch 1 "India - Location"; Class 11, Ch 2 "Structure and Physiography"

Meaning

The Lakshadweep Islands are a group of about 36 small, low coral islands in the Arabian Sea. They lie at 8°–12°N and 71°–74°E, about 220–440 km off the Kerala coast. They form India's smallest Union Territory, with only about 32 sq km of land [2], and their capital is Kavaratti.

They are India's only island group made by corals. The tectonic Andaman and Nicobar Islands are often set against them in exam questions. They also guard the Nine Degree and Eight Degree channels on Arabian Sea trade routes.

Explanation

How the islands formed: coral atolls

• Coral: a tiny sea animal (the coral polyp). It builds a hard skeleton of calcium carbonate (lime).
• Coral reef: a ridge made of millions of these skeletons.
• Atoll: a ring-shaped coral reef or island around a lagoon (a shallow body of sea water cut off by the reef).

• Almost every inhabited Lakshadweep island is a coral atoll [3].

• How an atoll forms (cause → process → result):

• Cause: coral reefs grow around a volcanic island or a raised part of the sea floor.
• Process: the base slowly sinks. The corals keep growing upward towards the sunlight.

• Result: a ring of coral is left around a central lagoon. Waves pile broken coral sand onto the ring, and low, flat islands form.

• Key point: Lakshadweep has a biological origin (built by living things). It does not have a tectonic origin (built by moving plates).

Conditions corals need

• Warm water: about 20°C or more.
• Clear water: sunlight must reach the corals.
• Shallow, salty water.
• Result: corals grow in tropical seas such as the Arabian Sea. This is why atolls are found here and in the Maldives to the south.

Physical features

• Relief: the islands are flat and low. They rise only a few metres above the sea.
• Storm beaches on the eastern seaboard:
• A storm beach is a bank of loose (unconsolidated) pebbles, shingle, cobbles and boulders. "Unconsolidated" means the pieces are not stuck together into rock.

• Strong storm waves throw this material high up the shore.

• Cover: coconut palms and sandy beaches. There is no dense forest.

• No volcanoes: unlike the Andamans, the islands have none.

Parts, size and people

• Spread: the islands are scattered over about 78,000 sq km of sea, but their total land is only about 32 sq km [2].
• Island groups (north to south):
• Amindivi (Amini) islands: the northern group.
• Cannanore islands: to their south.

• Minicoy: the southernmost island, south of the Nine Degree Channel.

• Inhabited islands: 10 [3] (NCERT gives 11).

• Most people live on four islands: Andrott, Kavaratti, Minicoy and Amini [3].

• Largest island:

• Andrott (about 4.9 sq km) is the largest.
• Minicoy (about 4.4 sq km) is the second largest.
• NCERT calls Minicoy the largest, "with an area of 453 sq km". That cannot be right, because all of Lakshadweep has only about 32 sq km of land [2].

Where it occurs

• Sea: Arabian Sea, off the south-west coast of India.
• Position: 8°–12°N, 71°–74°E. The islands lie 220–440 km off Kerala.
• Named places:
• Kavaratti: the capital.
• Andrott: the largest island.
• Minicoy: the southernmost island, beside the Eight Degree Channel.

• Amini: in the northern Amindivi group.

• Channels:

• Nine Degree Channel (about 9°N) separates the Amindivi and Cannanore islands from Minicoy.

• Eight Degree Channel (about 8°N) separates Minicoy (India) from the Maldives.

• Similar islands in the world: the Maldives, to the south, are also made of coral atolls.

Don't confuse with

• Andaman and Nicobar Islands: these are tectonic. They are the raised tops of undersea mountains that continue the Arakan Yoma, and they lie in the Bay of Bengal. They are hilly, forested and partly volcanic. Lakshadweep is coral, flat and has no volcanoes.
• Ten Degree Channel: it lies in the Bay of Bengal, between Little Andaman and Car Nicobar. The Nine Degree and Eight Degree channels lie in the Arabian Sea around Lakshadweep.
• Minicoy vs Andrott: Minicoy is the southernmost island and the second largest. Andrott is the largest. The NCERT figure of 453 sq km for Minicoy is wrong.
• Maldives: these are also coral atolls, but they form a foreign country. The Eight Degree Channel separates them from Minicoy.

Prelims Hooks

• Origin: Lakshadweep is made of coral atolls. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are tectonic (raised undersea mountains continuing the Arakan Yoma).
• Storm beaches (loose pebbles, shingle, cobbles and boulders) line the eastern seaboard of Lakshadweep, not the western one.
• Channels, north to south:
• The Nine Degree Channel separates the Amindivi and Cannanore islands from Minicoy.

• The Eight Degree Channel separates Minicoy from the Maldives.

• Largest island: Andrott, not Minicoy. Minicoy is the southernmost and second largest island.

• Smallest Union Territory: Lakshadweep has about 32 sq km of land [2]. Its capital is Kavaratti.
• Count: about 36 islands. 10 are inhabited [3] (NCERT: 11).

Mains Points

• Origin shapes the islands' character (GS-I):
• Coral origin makes the islands flat, tiny and low-lying, with coconut cover and no forest.

• This is unlike the hilly, forested, earthquake-prone Andamans, which formed at a plate boundary.

• Climate and disaster fragility (GS-III):

• Sea-level rise: the islands stand only a few metres above the sea and have very little land (about 32 sq km) [2], so rising seas are a serious threat.
• Coral bleaching: the islands are made of coral, so damage to the reefs weakens the land itself.
• Natural protection: reefs and storm beaches shield the islands from waves.

• Adaptation: reef health, freshwater lenses (layers of fresh groundwater floating on salt water under the island) and coastal regulation are key to adapting to climate change.

• Strategic value (GS-I/III):

• Lakshadweep guards the Nine and Eight Degree channels on Arabian Sea trade routes.
• It extends India's Exclusive Economic Zone (the sea area where India alone can use the resources) and its naval reach on the western side.

Related concepts

• Andaman and Nicobar Islands
• Saddle Peak
• Ten Degree Channel
• Nine Degree Channel
• Eight Degree Channel
• Minicoy Island

Read more

• The Islands: Andaman and Nicobar, and Lakshadweep