Department of Earth Sciences

About Department

The Department of Earth Sciences at Pondicherry University was started in September 1994. The Department is being supported by the DST, Government of India under FIST programme and National Facility programme for Isotope Geosciences and Geochronology. The Department strives to achieve academic excellence and to produce geoscientists with world class training.

Entrance Examination

Selection for M.Sc. Applied Geology will be based on performance in entrance examination which will include objective type questions in Geology at B.Sc. level. Selection for Integrated M.Sc. Applied Geology will be based on entrance examination consisting of objective type questions in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics at +2 level. For admission to Ph.D., there will be an examination consisting of objective type questions at M.Sc. level.

Placements

The academic curriculum of the Department helps a good number of students to qualify in national level competitive examinations including NET, GATE, and to find placement in major geoscientific organizations like AMD, GSI, CGWB, NHPC, ONGC, etc.

Programmes Offered

M.Sc. Applied Geology (2 year)
M.Sc. Applied Geology (Five year Integrated)

Gallery

Department of Earth Sciences
Department of Earth Sciences
Department of Earth Sciences
Department of Earth Sciences
Department of Earth Sciences
Department of Earth Sciences

Infrastructure Facilities

The Department has well equipped laboratories with sophisticated equipments to cater to the needs of practical course-work of M.Sc. students as well as for research. Major facilities available in the Department are listed below: Mineralogy, Petrology & Paleontology Laboratories: Students and Research model Polarizing Microscopes with Photographic facility heating-freezing stage for fluid inclusion Analysis Stereoscopic zoom microscopes, X-rayPowder Diffractometer, Isodynamic Magnetic Separator. Museum : Geology museum having a collection of about 800 rock forming minerals, Ore minerals, Industrial minerals, various type of rocks and fossils. Geochemistry Laboratory: Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer, Furnace, Electronic balance, Spectrophotometer, Flame photometer, Conductivity meter, pH meter, MilliQ Water Purifier. Isotope Geoscience Laboratory: Thermal ionization mass spectrometer with ultra-clean laboratory to carry out Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd and U-Th-Pb isotope studies. Computing and Network Facility: Adequate number of PCs with internet connectivity through University intranet and online access for large number of journals and other e-resources. Field Equipments: Global positioning system, Survey equipments, SLR and Digital cameras. Geoscience Workshop: Rock cutting machine, Thin section preparing machine, Mounting machine for polished ore blocks, Ball mill and Planetary mill with agate grinding sets, Automatic sieve shaker. Topographic maps and Geological maps: Large collection of topographic maps in 1 : 50000 scale covering Southern states of India and Geological maps of Indian states, Districts and important mineral deposits in various scales.

Faculty

Professor & H.O.D
Associate Professor
Associate Professor
Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor

Research Activities

The research areas offered by the Department are Geochemistry, Isotope Geochronology, Ore Geology, Sedimentology, Paleontology, Structural Geology, Tectonics and Metamorphic Petrology. Interdisciplinary research with the Departments of Chemistry and Physics are being actively pursued in the field of EPR spectroscopy of minerals and paleomagnetism. Inter-institutional collaborative research involving IITs, and PRL is also in progress. Presently, 18 full-time and 2 part-time scholars are working for Ph.D. All the faculty members have generated research grants funded by DST, CSIR etc. Six research projects (Rs.41.63 lakhs) sponsored by DST, CSIR and IUAC have been completed by the faculty members of the department during the last 5 years and presently there are ten ongoing research projects sponsored by DST, BRNS, ISRO and NSC (Rs. 179 lakhs). Recognising the research capability of the Department, DST has provided funds under FIST programme (Rs. 78 lakhs) for the Second Phase and UGC has sanctioned funds under SAP-DRS programme (Rs. 70 Lakhs) recently.

Contact Us

Dr. Rajneesh Bhutani , Professor & Head, Dept. of Earth Sciences, Pondicherry University, Kalapet, Puducherry- 605 014.
2654425
Printer-friendly versionSend to friend