Anthropocene Physiography and Morphology of Chilika; India

Based on stratigraphy, events, ecology and climatology, the present time is assigned Anthropocene epoch due to dominance Homosapiens over geobio-hydro-aero spheres of the mother earth during its accepted Anthropocene epoch succeeding the official 11700 years old Holocene epoch from 1950. Asia’s largest shallow brackish water lagoon, the Chilika housed over about 1000km, behind 64.3km barrier spit with multiple tidal inlets to Bay of Bengal. It is sinking and shrinking due to rapid dimensional diminution, environmental degradation, sedimentation, salinity depletion, phytoplankton invasion. Present study envisages the elementary morphology, formation mechanism, sediment transport, and dynamic performance of tidal inlets and the lagoon by applying GIS methodology between the year 1930 and 2017 including its local catchment land use changes within the lagoon and associated south Mahanadi delta. Under vulnerability, the Original Research Article Mishra et al.; ARRB, 36(2): 71-95, 2021; Article no.ARRB.66525 72 brackish water lagoon is constantly deteriorating its ecosystem, it is required for wise use of the wetland that can alleviate the poverty, uplift lagoon users economy, and disallowing the stakeholders living standard during present Anthropocene epoch