• Andhra Pradesh’s Erra Matti Dibbalu (Red Sand Dunes) and the Natural Heritage of Tirumala Hills, including the Eparchaean Unconformity, have been added to the UNESCO Tentative List of World Heritage Sites.
• Being on the Tentative List is the first mandatory step before a site can be nominated for inclusion in the World Heritage List.
• Erra Matti Dibbalu is a notified National Geo-heritage Monument located near Visakhapatnam, spread over 1,500 acres.
• The site preserves dendritic drainage patterns and sediment layers that record past climate and sea-level changes from the late Quaternary period.
• First documented in 1886 by British geologist William King.
• Globally, only two other similar sites exist — one in Sri Lanka and another in Tamil Nadu.