Late Pleistocene Paleoflood Deposits Identified by Grain Size Signatures, Parsons Valley Lake, Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu

A study involving grain size analysis was carried out from the Parsons valley lake deposit, Nilgiris, India to determine the depositional environments and paleoflood events since late Pleistocene period (∼29,838 cal yr BP). A 72 cm lacustrine core was collected from the lake and eight organic rich sediment samples were AMS radiocarbon dated. The study reveals variations in the grain size distribution chiefly influenced by regional climatic conditions. Paleoflood events have been identified by the individual sedimentary flood signatures of varying changes in the magnitude of sediment supply from the background silty sediment matrix around ∼29,838 and ∼8405 cal yr BP.