St Marys Island

St. Mary's Islands, also called Coconut Island and Thonsepar, are a set of four small islands in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Malpe in Udupi, Karnataka, India. They are recognised for his or her specific geological formation of columnar basaltic lava. Scientific studies indicate that the basalt of the St. Mary's Islands changed into shaped through sub-aerial subvolcanic interest, because at that time Madagascar become attached to India. The rifting of Madagascar occurred around 88 million years ago.

The islands form one of the four geological monuments in Karnataka state, one of the 26 Geological Monuments of India d through the Geological Survey of India in 2001. The monument is taken into consideration an essential website for "Geo Tourism". According to folks legend, inside the year 1498, Vasco da Gama landed at St. Mary's Islands on his adventure from Portugal, constant a cross on the island and named the sort of islands, O Padrao de Santa Maria, as a willpower to Mother Mary, earlier than intending to Kozhikode in Kerala.It is from this name that the islands got their current name.