Editing Adam's Bridge (section)

==Geological evolution==
[[File:Rama's bridge.jpg|thumb|left|[[Landsat 5]] image of Adam's Bridge]]
[[File:AdamsBridge02-NASA.jpg|thumb|right|NASA satellite photo: India on top, Sri Lanka at the bottom]]
[[File:Palk Bay bathymetry.jpg|thumb|right|[[Bathymetry]] of the Palk Strait, showing water depth in metres]]
Due to lowered sea levels during the [[Last Glacial Period]] (115,000–11,700 years [[Before Present]]) where sea levels reached a maximum of {{cvt|120|m}} below present values, the entirety of the relatively shallow [[Palk Strait]] (which reaches a maximum depth of only {{cvt|35|m}}) was exposed as dry land connecting the mainland Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka. Following the rise to present sea levels during the [[Holocene]], by around 7,000 years ago, the strait became submerged, including the region of Adam's Bridge/Rama Setu. The islands of Adam's Bridge became emergent again following sea level falls in the region from around 5,000 years ago to the present.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last1=Dubey |first1=K.M. |last2=Chaubey |first2=A.K. |last3=Gaur |first3=A.S. |last4=Joglekar |first4=M.V. |date=January 2023 |title=Evolution of Ramasetu region as a link between India and Sri Lanka during the late Pleistocene and Holocene |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0033589422000412/type/journal_article |journal=Quaternary Research |language=en |volume=111 |pages=166–176 |doi=10.1017/qua.2022.41 |issn=0033-5894|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The bridge starts as a chain of [[shoal]]s from the [[Dhanushkodi]] tip of India's [[Pamban Island]]. It ends at Sri Lanka's [[Mannar Island]]. Pamban Island is accessed from the Indian mainland by the {{cvt|2|km}} long [[Pamban Bridge]]. Mannar Island is connected to mainland Sri Lanka by a causeway.

The lack of comprehensive field studies explains many of the uncertainties regarding the nature and origin of Adam's Bridge. It mostly consists of a series of parallel ledges of sandstone and conglomerates that are hard at the surface and grow coarse and soft as they descend to sandy banks.<ref name=":2" /> The Marine and Water Resources Group of the [[Space Applications Centre]] (SAC) of the [[Indian Space Research Organisation]] (ISRO) concludes that Adam's Bridge comprises 103 small patch reefs.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Bahuguna|first1=Anjali|last2=Nayak|first2=Shailesh|last3=Deshmukh|first3=Benidhar|date=1 December 2003|title=IRS views the Adams bridge (bridging India and Sri Lanka)|journal=Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing|language=en|volume=31|issue=4|pages=237–239|doi=10.1007/BF03007343|s2cid=129785771|issn=0255-660X}}</ref> One study tentatively concludes that there is insufficient evidence to indicate eustatic emergence and that the raised reef in southern India probably results from a local uplift.<ref name="sto">{{cite journal|title=Raised Reefs of Ramanathapuram, South India|author1=D. R. Stoddart |author2=C. S. Gopinadha Pillai |jstor=621544|journal=Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers|volume=56 |year=1972|pages=111–125|doi=10.2307/621544|issue=56 | issn = 0020-2754 }}</ref>