Data Web on Island Environment and Protection (DWIEP)

Coastal and Oceanic Island Database of India

Button Rock

Geography
Island code

INKA005


Name of the island

Button Rock


Island note
-

Type of island

Oceanic Island


State / UT

Karnataka State


Location

Arabian Sea  (This submerged island, located behind Arge Island, is at a distance of about 2.86 km from the Karwar Port in Uttara Kannada district)


Geographical coordinates

14°43'30.00"N
74°8'55.68"E


Area

0.00283 sq.km


Area range

Less than 2 sq.km


Climate
The island is located near Uttara Kannada district. The climate of Uttara Kannada district is tropical. The district largely falls under the hilly agroclimatic zone except for the western parts of Karwar, Ankola, Kumta, Honnavar and Bhatkal taluks, which are coastal agroclimatical The average annual temperature is 27.2 °C, with temperatures rising from January and peaking in May, at around 30 °C. The climate is classified as Am according to the Koppen-Geiger climate classification system There is significant rainfall during most months, with the short dry season hardly effecting the overall climate. Precipitation averages about 2750 mm, largely occurring over nearly 103 rainy days. The driest month is January and the warmest is April, with October to December being the post monsoon season (Source: climate-data.org)

Terrain

Rocky


Elevation / Altitude

0 m (Data extracted from Google earth)


Soil type

The soil of Uttara Kannada district is mostly lateritic type, and is distributed in the pediplain area. It is characterised by high iron and aluminium content. It is mostly red in colour, though yellow loamy, pale to bright red colours are also seen. The major soil types are (i) hilly soil (ii) lateritic (iii) loamy and (iv) semi-black cotton (Source: CGWB Report, 2006)


Fresh water sources

The major water bearing formations of Uttara Kannada includes- i) Shallow aquifers of alluvium along the stream courses, along coast, creeks, weathered zones of schists, metasedimentaries and metavolcanics occurring between the depths of 3 to 20 mbgl (ii) Deeper aquifers of fractured and jointed schists, gneisses and metavolacanics and meta sedimentaries up to 200 mbgl Net annual ground water availability is 70765 (ham)


Hydrology

The water bearing formations are weathered & fractured Gneiss, Schist & Granite and alluvium. The water level during pre-monsoon is 1.85 mbgl to 15.17 mbgl & during post-monsoon is 1.65 mbgl to 9.40 mbgl. Nitrate occurs more than permissible limit which is around 140ppm. The water type is Ca - Mg bicarbonate to Na Chloride (Source: CGWB Report, 2006)

Demography
Habitation

Uninhabited


Population

Nil


Language

Not applicable


Religion

Not applicable


Ethnic groups

Not applicable


Traditional knowledge

Not applicable

Shoreline Characteristics
Coastline / Shoreline

0.0 km (Data extracted from Google earth)


Tidal amplitude

Average spring tide is 1.58 m neap tide 0.72 m at Karwar Port (Sanil Kumar et al., 2012)


Bathymetry

0 m (Data extracted from NHO chart)

Infrastructure and Communication
Infrastructure

No


Communication

No

Transportation
Transport

This island is located at a distance of 4.863 km from Karwar Port, Uttar Kannada district and can be reached by boats


Nearest Port / Jetty / Harbour

Karwar Port


Distance to nearest Port / Jetty / Harbour

4.812 km from Karwar Port


Shortest distance from mainland

Karwar is in the Uttra Kannada taluk which is located at the shortest distance of 4.825 km from this rocky island


Nearest Airport

100 km from Dabolim International Airport, Goa 267.80 km from Mangalore International Airport

Activities
Agriculture

No


Commercial activity

No


Industries

Nil

Tourism
Tourist places

No


Tourism activity

No

Biodiversity and Conservation
Flora

No information available


Fauna

No information available


Medicinal plants

No information available


Type of forest

No information available


Endangered species

No information available


Flagship species

No information available


Keystone species

No information available


Conservation status
(Protected / Unprotected with ESA /
Unprotected without ESA)
Unprotected with ESA

Sanctuary

No


Ecological Sensitive Areas (ESAs)

No


Hazards
Natural hazards

Cyclone and Flood


Seismic sensitivity

As per the Seismic Zone Map of India, this region is assigned under the Moderate Damage Risk Zone III (MSK VII). (Source: NDMA, 2016)


High Flood Line (HFL) / Tsunami
The rock comes under the moderate risk zone (Vb =39m/s) for Wind and Cyclone Vulnerability map of India (Source: NDMA, 2016) As per the Flood hazard map of India, the probable maximum surge height of this region is 3 to 4 m. (Source: NDMA, 2016)
Environmental Issues
Environment-current issues

Soil erosion, Pollution discharge, and wave overtopping (Source: http://cmiskarnataka.in/kodibengre.html)