Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

Plan to put fossil tree on tourist map

100 million-year-old: An ancient fossil tree at Sathanur in Perambalur district.

TIRUCHI: The site of over a 100 million-year-old fossil tree, a geological treasure, in the remote village of Sathanur in Perambalur district will soon be a more hospitable place for visiting tourists and geologists.

The State Tourism Department has sanctioned Rs.50 lakh for improving tourist infrastructure at the site, according to Tourism Secretary V. Irai Anbu. The site, about 20 km away from Ariyalur (often referred as the ‘land of fossils),’ has been languishing even without a proper access road and is one of the lesser-known tourist attractions.

Known as ‘Kal Maram,’ the tree is a protected monument of the Geological Survey of India. The official website of the Perambalur district administration notes that geological studies have shown that the sea (which lies about 100 km east of Sathanur today) had transgressed as far as 8 to 10 km west of Sathanur more than 120,000,000 years ago. During this period, geologically known as the cretaceous, the sea abounded in a variety of marine animals. Animals and trees along the shore were buried after being carried by flooded streams of seawater and were petrified in course of time.

The petrified tree trunk at Sathanur measures over 18 meters in length. Similar fossil trees measuring a few meters in length were found along the stream sections near Varagur, Anaipadi, Alundalipur and Saradamangalam.

M.S. Krishnan of the Geological Survey of India first reported this fossil tree in 1940. In 1992, a fossil of a dinosaur egg, weighing about seven kg and measuring 20 cm in diameter, was discovered (the first in Tamil Nadu) at Kallankurichi near Ariyalur.

Mr. Irai Anbu, who was on a visit to the city recently, said the development works would commence soon and completed within a few months.

P. Pushparaj, Tourism Officer, Tiruchi, told The Hindu that the development works would include laying an approach road to the site at a cost of Rs.17.15 lakh. A tourist rest room (with three double rooms) would be constructed at a cost of Rs.12.82 lakh along with a tourist rest shed at an estimate of Rs.1.17 lakh. Rest of the money would be spent on improving lighting, provision of drinking water and fencing. All the works would be on the periphery of the fenced structure housing the fossil tree that is maintained by the GSI.

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