Vaippar

The Vaippar river rises on the Eastern slopes of the Varushanadu hill ranges of the Western Ghats near Sivagiri in Thirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu at an elevation of about 900 m. It flows generally in an Easterly direction for a length of about 125 km through Thirunelveli, Virudhunagar and Tuticorin districts in Tamil Nadu and joins the gulf of Mannar near Kalattur. The river basin is located on South of Vaigai. It drains a total catchment area of 5,069 Sq.Km. The catchment area lies entirely in Tamil Nadu. The Arjunanadhi and Vijayanadhi are the important tributaries. Both the tributaries are left tributaries.

The Vaippar river basin comprises of the Archaean group of hard rocks viz. charnockite, complex gneiss, limestone and basic metamorphic rocks, young intrusive rocks like pegmatite, quartz veins and sub recent alluvium. Major part of the Vaippar basin except in the west is occupied by complex gneiss like hornblende gneiss, mica gneiss and pink & grey granite gneiss. The next important group is the charnockite series, spread over the western part of the basin. The alluvium extends around 200 meters on either side of the Vaippar river in the eastern part of the basin. Coastal alluvium exists parallel to the coast upto a distance of 4 km from the sea.