Abstract: Dakshina Kannada district is situated in the peninsular region of India. The peninsula is composed of geologically ancient rocks of diverse original and most of them have undergone metamorphism. The early Precambrian tonalitic gneisses invaded by granites, granulates and dolerite dykes. Granulates are mostly restricted to areas south of Mangalore City. High grade alumina rich (corundum bearing) metamorphic schists have been encountered and younger alkaline intrusive rocks like Aegerine syenites have been reported. There are five rivers and estuaries. Number of lineaments cut across each other and some lineaments are parallel to each other. The Arabian Sea class is the largest among other land cover features in the study area. The groundwater table goes down at a faster rate after the south west monsoon and dries up during early summer months. At present the problem of saltwater intrusion along the coastal Dakshina Kannada districts is not fully scientifically assessed. The GALDIT- index based method applied in the region to assess the vulnerability of the area to seawater intrusion.

Key words: GALDIT method, rock types, water table, water quality, pumping test, granulates.

| DOI: 10.17148/IARJSET.2021.81252