PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY
LEH – 2015
The 57th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Geological
Society of India was held on 8th September 2015 at the picturesque Leh, the district headquarters of Ladakh in Jammu & Kashmir to consider and adopt the annual report as well as the audited statement of accounts for the year ended 31st March 2015. The
Department of Geology, University of Jammu (through Prof. R.K. Ganjoo and Prof. G.M. Bhat) extended the invitation to hold the AGM of the Society at Leh thus paving the way to visit a geologically crucial segment of the Himalayan Collision Orogen characterised by some of the most spectacular landscapes as well as a unique climatic zones in the entire Indian sub-continent.
With a land area of 45100 sq. km, Leh district is one of the largest in the country. The district headquarters of Leh is situated at an altitude of 11,562' and has in the last decade or so become one of the major tourist attractions in the country with large number of domestic as well as foreign tourists attracted by the scenic landscape, exotic trekking possibilities, unspoilt nature and the calm cultural ambience of the Buddhist Monasteries of the Yellow Hat (Gelugpa) sect.
Topographically, Leh district is mountainous with the three parallel ranges of the Himalaya- the Zanskar, the Ladakh and the Karakoram and the three rivers of Shyok, Indus and Zanskar flowing in between the ranges. The mega-lineament of the Indus Tectonic Zone passes through this region and is interpreted as the boundary between the Indian and Eurasian plates.
The geology of Leh is characterised by the Ladakh Granitoid Complex, also called as the Ladakh Batholith, which is built up of a heterogenous assemblage of granites/granodiorites, diorites, gabbroidal rocks and basic dykes. The Indus Group of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic sediments overlie unconformably the Ladakh Granitoid Complex.
Prof. Harsh K. Gupta, President, Geological Society of India in his opening remarks welcomed all the Fellows and several Awardees of the Society and thanked them for the trouble taken by them in travelling to the distant yet picturesque city of Leh-Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir.
In addition to the multifarious activities of the Society, the President highlighted two major events of recent past. Firstly, he referred to the 7.8 MW Nepal (Gorkha) Earthquake of 25 April, 2015, which left a trail of destruction and loss of nearly 10,000 precious lives. He emphasized on the need for preparedness and training in coping with such natural disasters mitigating to some extent the losses of both life and property. The second event referred to by the President was the passing away of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the former President of India and a noted scientist and administrator. He recounted his personal association with Dr. Kalam and the keen interest evinced by Dr. Abdul Kalam in
the progress and development of Earth Sciences in India. Before presentation of the Annual Report by the Secretary, the assembled observed a minute’s silence in respectful homage to the deceased fellows of the Society during the review period.
Shri R.H. Sawkar, Secretary of the Geological Society of India, then read out the Notice of the Annual General Meeting of the Society to consider and adopt the Annual Report of the Society as well as the Audited Statement of the Accounts.
The first item of the Agenda taken up for consideration was the confirmation of the minutes of the AGM for the year 2013-14, which was unanimously approved by the General Body.
This was followed by the presentation of the Annual Report for the period 2014-15 by the Secretary. Shri R.H. Sawkar made a special mention of the effort put in by the Society to facilitate the participation of the Indian School children in the 8th International
Earth Science Olympiad at Santander, Spain during September 2014, where several awards were won by the Indian team.
He also highlighted the effort to introduce DOI numbers to articles published in the Special publications of the Society like the proceedings of Society sponsored seminars / symposia / conferences and operationalizing the online bookstore facility in Society’s website.
The Journal of the Society as well as the “Episodes” published by the Society on behalf of IUGS have been, as always maintained their regularity and punctuality of publication.
The ever widening gamut of activities of the Society (including special training programmes and outreach activities like the Earth Day celebrations) were reflected in the Secretary’s Annual Report for 2014-15. The General Body then unanimously ratified and approved the Secretary’s report of activities as well as the accounts for the financial year 2014-15. Permission was also granted by
the General Body to continue with the services of the Auditors for the coming year also.
PRESENTATION OF SOCIETY AWARDS
At the concluding part of the AGM, the following Awards of the Geological Society of India for 2015 were presented.
L. Rama Rao Birth Centenary Award
Presenting the L. Rama Rao Birth Centenary Award to Prof. S.K. Shah, Department of Geology, University of Jammu, the President in his citation said:
Prof. S.K. Shah has been an active researcher for nearly half a century and has made outstanding contributions in Himalayan Stratigraphy and Paleontology. He excelled himself as a field worker, as a researcher and as a teacher. While he has studied Himalayan Phanerozoic sequences from Kashmir in the west and Arunachal in the east, his main focus has been on correlating the faunal data with other parameters like palaeomagnetism, tectonic events and eustatic fluctuations. He is a pioneer in stating that the entire Palaeo-Mesozoic sequence of Himalaya was of a platformal type, an observation that went counter to the opinion then held by most Himalayan workers. He identified the cyclicity in the Tethyan sequence and related it to the marine transgressions in Lesser Himalaya and Peninsular India. His work on fauna and biostratigraphy of Himalayan Cambrian has helped not only in identifying the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary and other intra-system boundaries in India but also in determining the configuration of global biofacies realm. The faunal provincialism in the Cambrian sequence has been illustrated and explained in the light of oscillatory movements of a stable shelf and consequent depth variations. The work of Prof. Shah has been internationally acclaimed and he remained a respected member of the Cambrian Sub-Commission of IUGS representing Asia for ten years.
While receiving the Award Prof. S.K. Shah said:
I am thankful to the Geological Society of India, especially to the President, Prof. Harsh K. Gupta, and the Council members for doing me this honour. It is all the more momentous because it is associated with the name of Prof. L. Rama Rao, a doyen of
time to focus on my specialization. However, eventually I found that this exposure as also the interaction in other universities in the country and abroad was highly useful as it gave me a holistic view to focus on the stratigraphic evolution of Himalaya. I would be failing in my duty if I do not mention that, part of the credit of what I did would go to several students of mine who kept me on tenterhooks by asking uncomfortable questions for which I had to seek answers. In fact even for this award I have to thank them for their very sincere good wishes. I accept this award in all humility with the belief that “something attempted and something done, has earned a night’s repose”.
H.S. Pareek Award
Presenting H.S. Pareek Award to Dr. Krishna Kanth Kumar Singh, Sr. Principal Scientist in Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad, the President said:
Dr. Krishna Kant Kumar Singh is an outstanding geophysicist working as Sr. Principal Scientist in Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad. He has made significant scientific contributions in solving different mining problems for coal mining industries using geophysical techniques for the last 25 years.
During his doctoral work, he used Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey and delineated the characteristic parameters of the sub-surface. He has applied advanced geophysical methods in delineating different problems of the coal fields, assessing and
Paleontology and Stratigraphy, one of the founding fathers of the Society and a renowned Editor at whose feet I had the occasion to learn quite a few things about how to write a research paper in a concise manner. As a young teacher in a small department I was somewhat worried that I had to teach various branches of earth science at the post graduate level and it did not afford me much
simulating water resources. He has extensively applied various geophysical methods for mining applications. He has also worked for solving water problems in mining and tackled environmental issues related to mining.
He is recipient of a large number of honours and awards including the prestigious “National Geoscience Award-2013” for Mining Technology for the development of a new Ground Penetrating Radar system for detection of barrier thickness between the abandoned underground mine workings and contemporary mine developments to mitigate inundation hazard in underground coal mines. This was a long pending issue of the coal mining industry. Ground Penetrating Radar system is the world’s first intrinsically-safe longest range and lowest frequency shielded radar system to identify the risk of inundations of Indian coal mines and has been granted permission by Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS), Dhanbad – the Mining Regulatory Body for use in underground gaseous coal mines. A new Ground Penetrating Radar system called Mine Vue developed by Dr.KKK Singh has also been granted Safety certification by British Safety Authority, BASEEFA, U.K. It is one of the noteworthy achievements of
Dr. Krishna Kant Kumar Singh for the coal mining industries, which has enabled them to exploit coal with enhanced safety in unapproachable and abandoned coal mines.
In a written response Dr. Krishna Kanth Kumar Singh said:
I feel honoured to receive the H.S. Pareek award of the Geological Society of India for the year 2015 and I humbly accept it. I am very thankful to Dr. H.K. Gupta, President, Geological Society of India, and other jury members who considered that the work I have done for solving the different mining problems is of some relevance to science and the Coal Mining industries at large. I started my research work on the application of different geophysical techniques specially Ground Penetrating Radar and Resistivity Imaging for solving different problems of the coal mining industries. I completed my Ph.D. from Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad on the topic titled “Delineation of subsurface in homogeneities using Ground Penetrating Radar”. I have tried my level best to solve different mining problems of the coal mining industries. I have also got appreciation letters from some coal mines/miners for enhancing their production and safety, where a large quantity of coal was locked due to abandoned and unapproachable waterlogged mine workings. Among the different problems, inundation is one of the challenging problems of the coal mining industries. I have developed a new Ground penetrating Radar system namely “MineVue” having depth of penetration 60 m for detection of barrier thickness between the abandoned underground mine workings and contemporary mine developments to mitigate inundation hazard in underground coal mines. With this technology, it is possible to identify the risk of inundation hazard in Indian coal mines. This system is a notable development for the safety of miners and machineries while working near water bodies and has addressed a long pending major safety problem of the mining industry.
JGSI Radhakrishna Prize
Presenting the JGSI-Radhakrishna Prize to Chandra Kant Singh, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Allahabad for his paper entitled “Active Deformations Extracted from Drainage Geomorphology: A Case Study from Southern Sonbhadra District, Central India” (v.84, No.5, pp. 569-578), the President in his citation said:
Dr. Chandra Kant Singh in his paper highlights active deformation in a part of Narmada-Son Lineament zone in Central India around Renukoot town, in the vicinity of Rihand dam and Son Narmada South Fault (SNSF). Keeping in view of the background that the pattern of development of drainage and channel reaction is a sensitive indicator of active deformation, the drainage geomorphology of the area between Kanahar and Rihand rivers (tributaries of the tectonically controlled Son river) around Renukoot area have been studied in detail aiming to understand active tectonics of the region, integrating detailed analysis of landforms and drainages. Various geomorphic features present in the study area such as incision of valleys, aligned drainage, aligned
valleys, linear valleys, offset channels, offset ridges and fault scarps demonstrate that the area is undergoing active deformation. This work is significant contribution as it establishes first time the neo-tectonic activity in a part of Precambrian bed rock terrain (Mahakoshal Group of rocks and Chhota Nagpur Granite Gneiss Complex) in the vicinity of SNSF. This work also points towards the scope of the intra-continental seismicity since the active deformations revealed in the form of complex drainage configuration may be the consequence of high stress orientation of SNSF related to northward convergence of Indian plate.
Dr. Chandra Kant Singh has been actively engaged in research work in the fields of Structural Geology and Geomorphology since last 15 years in different capacities at the Banaras Hindu University, Allahabad University and Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia. He has also contributed to the tectonic history of Sapphirine bearing granulites from Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt as well as the crystalline rocks of Arunachal Himalaya.
While receiving the Award Dr. Chandra Kant Singh said:
I am extremely glad and feel deeply honoured to receive the prestigious “JGSI-Radhakrishna Prize” for the best paper published in the Journal of Geological Society of India during the year 2014. I express my deep sense of gratitude to the President and Members of the Council of the Society for recognizing my research effort for this award.
I dedicate this award to the Department of Geology, Banaras Hindu University since it provided all opportunities and support for my research. Finally I thank all the faculty members of the department for inspiration and blessings. Last but not the least I am thankful to my wife Ranjana and sons Shivansh and Divyansh for their constant support and sacrifice for my research work.
N.N. Chatterjee Award
Presenting N.N. Chatterjee Award to Dr. A.K. Chaturvedi, Additional Director (Research & Development, Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration & Research, AMD), Department of Atomic Energy, the President in his citation said:
carried out over 2,50,000 Line km in Brown field and Green field areas of Uranium Exploration. His contributions in data acquisition, processing, interpretation and modeling of the data acquired could significantly demarcate new areas of Uranium Mineralisation in deeper parts of Cuddapah basin Andhra Pradesh, over parts of North Delhi Fold Belt, Rajasthan and establishing continuity of Uranium Mineralization at deeper levels in parts of Singhbhum Shear Zone.
Drilling in Daida area, Cuddapah basin, Narsinghpuri and Karoi areas in North Delhi fold belt have indicated new areas with significant uranium mineralization. Simultaneously his efforts in satellite data studies using different image processing techniques and its integration with heliborne geophysical data and available geological data on a GIS platform over a number of areas like Gangpur basin, Bhima basin, Kaladgi basin and Gwalior basin have provided new areas for uranium exploration. These studies have helped in making significant contributions in identifying new areas for uranium exploration and establishing new uranium resources of the country.
These resources will enhance indigenous uranium supply to existing and planned nuclear reactors in the country and will be contributing in the nuclear fuel cycle. Studies have indicated that to meet India’s Energy requirements, India needs to generate its 25% electricity by nuclear resources. His efforts and studies will significantly contribute in this direction to ensure Energy Security of India.
In early part of his career he significantly contributed in uranium exploration activities at Jajawal Mines, Surguja district, remote part of Chattisgarh (now), where he carried out geological work related to drilling and mining activities for uranium exploration.
He has also carried out Geotechnical studies related to selection of suitable sites for proposed nuclear power plants and proposed geological Repository for nuclear waste disposal.
While receiving the award Dr. A.K. Chaturvedi said:
I feel deeply honored to receive “N.N. Chatterjee” award for the year 2015 from the Geological Society of India and with a deep sense of gratitude, I thank the President and other members of Council of Geological Society of India, to recognize my contributions significant enough for this honour.
look for signatures of Uranium Mineralisation based on Air borne Gamma Ray spectrometric data and integrate the same with the geological maps prepared based on satellite data studies.
Since last 10 years our focus was to look for concealed Uranium Mineralisation. Heliborne Geophysical surveys with Time-Domain Electromagnetics (TDEM), Magnetics and Gamma ray spectrometric surveys played important role in this effort. It was a challenging task to identify potential areas of concealed uranium mineralisation with the help of these data sets as there were very few such activities taken up in our country and there were not many skilled personnel to process, interpret and model the acquired data particularly TDEM dataset. I have a sense of satisfaction that we could do it and now our group has excellent skills to take up such jobs & research. However, a lot is yet to be done.
At this moment I remember and thank my fellow colleagues who were associated with me to take these challenging tasks. I am extremely grateful to my organization Atomic Minerals Directorate for giving me the opportunity and facilitate all the work. I thank my seniors who encouraged and extended all the support over different periods of my career. I extend my gratitude to my parents for their support and blessings. My wife Deepti who has been strength behind all my efforts deserves a special mention and sincere thanks. My daughters Kriti and Apoorva were my source of inspiration and motivation. Thanks to my teachers, well-wishers and coworkers from AMD and other national and foreign institutions.
K.K. Menon Award
Presenting K.K. Menon Award to Dr. Anish Kumar Warrier, the President in his citation said:
Dr. Anish Kumar Warrier is currently working as Project Scientist at the ESSO-National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Goa. For his PhD work, he used Sedimentological, environmental magnetic and geochemical techniques on lake sediments from southern India to determine the paleoclimate during the Holocene. The results obtained by his research studies suggested that magnetic susceptibility may be used as a proxy for paleomonsoon in the tropical regions. This proposition was bolstered by a positive correlation between magnetic susceptibility and instrumental rainfall data supported by sedimentological and geochemical data. He is now working on lake sediments from East Antarctica to decipher the Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental conditions, using a multi-proxy approach (sedimentology, geochemistry, environmental magnetism etc). He has participated in the 32nd, 33rd and 34th Indian Scientific Expeditions to Antarctica
and collected numerous lacustrine sediment cores. He has reconstructed the glacial-interglacial environmental changes in Schirmacher Oasis, East Antarctica during the past 43,000 years. Dr. Warrier has made significant contributions in palaeoclimatic studies of tropical and Antarctic regions based on sediment studies.
While receiving the Award Dr. Anish Kumar Warrier said:
I am profoundly honored and happy to receive the prestigious
K.K. Menon Award in Sedimentology for the year 2015. The Award which is instituted in the name of a renowned professor of Geology, a well-known Sedimentologist and Palaeoclimatologist, Late Prof. K.K. Menon. Prof. Menon was the founder Professor of Geology Department, University of Kerala and also founder member of the Geological Society of India and the Mineralogical Society of India. I am extremely delighted to receive this Award from Prof. Harsh Gupta, President, Geological Society of India.
on specialized landslides and geoseismological studies. He is perhaps the only geoscientist who after initiating systematic landslide hazard zonation mapping, continued to carry out for about fourteen years covering over 10,000 km2 area in Satluj and
Beas valleys in Himachal Pradesh. Slope stability related investigations carried out by him extended from HP and Uttarakhand to Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. He has rare distinction of being associated with macroseismic surveys of eight damaging to devastating earthquakes of Himalaya and peninsula which include 1978 Dharamshala, 1993 Latur Marathwada, 1999 Chamoli and 2001 Gujarat earthquakes. The kidney failure and transplant in November 1996, though restricted his field activities, did not deter his zeal and he undertook investigations of 1999 and 2001 temblors.
He worked in the Publication Division of Geological Survey of India, Lucknow wherein he processed and edited six publications in a short span of a little over two years. In total he edited nine books that covered Tehri and Beas dams, landslide inventory, Delhi microzonation and Chamoli earthquake.
Presently Shri Gupta is engaged as guest faculty in Environmental Science in Lucknow University and fulfilling his long cherished wish of being a teacher.
In recognition of his fervour and devotion to engineering geological and allied investigations and his efforts to bring out many outstanding publications, the Geological Society of India is conferring Shri Swatantra Kumar Gupta with prestigious GSI-Sesquicentennial Commemorative Award for the year 2015.
In a written response Shri Swatantra Kumar Gupta said:
I feel privileged and honoured to receive the highly celebrated “GSI - Sesquicentennial Commemorative Award” for the year 2015 and express my sincere gratitude to the President and Council members of the Geological Society of India. In fact I find myself on cloud nine on being in row with engineering geology greats:
I wish to thank all my teachers, who have played a vital role in shaping up my research and scientific career. I express my sincere gratitude to Prof. R. Shankar, my PhD thesis supervisor, who gave me an excellent opportunity to work with him. He introduced me to the wonderful and fascinating field of paleoclimate and different techniques related to this field. With his constructive comments and encouragement, he has guided me through the ups and downs of my research career. I thank my dear grandfather Shri. N. V. Krishna Warrier, National and State Award winner for excellence in Education, who supported me in all aspects during my MSc and PhD days.
I thank the Directors (Former and Present), ESSO-National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research for giving me the opportunity to pursue my research interests in Antarctica and for supporting me with research facilities. I thank all my friends, parents, family members and well-wishers for their love and support throughout my research career.
I sincerely thank the Geological Society of India for considering me for the prestigious K.K. Menon Award in Sedimentology. Thank you all for your support!
G.S.I. Sesquicentennial Commemorative Award
Presenting G.S.I. Sesquicentennial Commemorative Award to Shri Swatantra Kumar Gupta, Director (Retd.), Geological Survey of India, the President in his citation said:
Shri S.K. Gupta served Geological Survey of India for more than thirty three years. After carrying out pioneering Quaternary geological and geomorphologic mapping in Narmada valley, Madhya Pradesh, he remained engaged in engineering geological investigations for nearly twenty eight years. The area of his fieldwork extended from high and rugged mountainous terrain of Northwest and Eastern Himalaya to structurally complicated hills of the Northeast and to peninsular India.
Shri Gupta has undertaken geotechnical investigations of Baspa and Karchham-Wangtu hydel projects in Satluj catchment, and Parvati, Allain and Duhangan hydroelectric projects in Beas catchment in Himachal Pradesh. Since 1980-81 his focus was more
S/Shri V.S. Krishnaswamy, B.M. Hukku and S.P. Jalote. Shri Krishnaswamy brought me to engineering geology, Shri Hukku initiated me to engineering geology in field, and Shri Jalote – an engineering geologist par excellence has been and continues to be my friend, philosopher and guide. As engineering geologist I owe a great to him.
in rough Himalayan and Northeastern hills to macroseismic studies of eight damaging and destructive earthquakes that struck in both Himalayan as well as peninsular regions of the country. Here I gratefully remember my Directors and colleagues who encouraged me to take up investigations in Quaternary Geology, an entirely new branch, to work on landslide hazard zonation in Northwestern Himalaya and they have been source of strong support and unending motivation in my achievements.
I thank my teachers, my parents and family whose support and encouragement made me ‘what I am today’. I will fail if I don’t express my lifelong indebtness to my wife Smt. Indra Gupta who encouraged me to take up all assignments and later donated a kidney enabling me lead a normal life again. My both children Charu and Itee have been a source of great inspiration.
Today I am overwhelmed to receive this award offered by unequivocally the greatest geoscience society of our country, the Geological Society of India. Thank you all!
S.M. Naqvi Gold Medal
Presenting S.M. Naqvi Gold Medal to Dr. R.P. Tiwari, Vice-Chancellor, H.S. Gour University, Sagar, the President in his citation said:
Raghavendra P. Tiwari is a pioneer worker in palaeobiology of the Cenozoic succession of Northeast India especially in Mizoram. He discovered several new fossiliferous horizons and 25 new fossil species amongst invertebrates, ichno- fossils, fishes and plants. He established five molluscan bio-zones in the Tertiary succession of Mizoram, and two in the Garo Group of Meghalaya. This is regarded as the fundamental contribution in the stratigraphy of northeastern region, serving now as a basis for local and regional correlations. The discovery of marine fishes from the Miocene of Mizoram is one of the unique reports on a global basis of equatorial low latitude deep-sea fish assemblage. His discovery of five species of fossil woods from the Tipam Group in Mizoram gave supporting evidence in favour of tropical evergreen forest. Dr. Tiwari has ably used his palaeontological data base in constraining the age and in interpreting the depositional environment of the Tertiary succession.
In addition, Prof. Tiwari is also contributing significantly in understanding the geodynamics of Northeastern region. The findings that Churachandpur-Mao fault in the Indo-Burmese Arc accommodates motion of ~18 ± 2 mm/yr between the India and Sunda plates through aseismic motion, demonstrates that this plate boundary fault signiûcantly lowers the seismic hazard due to the major and great interplate earthquakes along the plate boundary. This study also helps refine the earlier estimates of internal deformation of the Indian plate and across major structures within the plate interior regions. His latest finding that presently the shallow part of Mat Fault (upto 4.0km) in Indo- Burmese Arc exhibits no slip (0±5mm per year) is significant one. His current research interest includes Radon monitoring along faults in Indo-Burmese Arc for establishing its relationship with seismic events.
In a written response Dr. R.P. Tiwari said:
I am deeply honoured and privileged to receive the prestigious S.M. Naqvi Gold Medal, an award instituted by his well wishers and sons to honour Late Dr. S.M. Naqvi- one of the doyens in the field of Precambrian Geology. I am deeply indebted to the Geological Society of India for bestowing this privilege on me. I am obliged to Dr. Harsh K. Gupta, the President of the Society and its Council members for considering my research contribution worthy of conferring this Medal.
I spent 31 years in Mizoram and studied excellently preserved Cenozoic rock records exposed in this remotely located state of our country. Inspired by the classical work of Late Mr. P. Evans on the Surma succession, I started my research career on the biostratigraphic aspect of Cenozoic succession of Mizoram. I was able to propose a biostratigraphic zonation scheme for the Tertiary succession of Mizoram, based mainly on the bivalves. Since then my most sincere and consistent endeavour has been to study complete palaeobiotic aspect of the Cenozoic succession of Mizoram covering mollscs, echinoids, decapods, foraminifers, fishes, plant fossils and ichnospecies with a view to evolve a depositional model based on these proxies. Simultaneously, I am working on the magneto stratigraphic aspect of this succession and have a good success story. More recently, I have also associated myself with the geodetic studies in the Indo-Burmese Arc. The focus of my research is on the chronology of the suturing of the eastern margin of India with the Shan block elucidating the progression of geodynamic processes.
I am fortunate in receiving guidance from many senior earth scientists in my research journey and I am extremely thankful to all of them including my collaborators. I fondly remember all my teachers for imparting quality training and inculcating moral values that enabled me to carry out the Medal winning research.
Honorable President, once again I express my deep sense of gratitude to Geological Society of India and to you for presenting me the S.M. Naqvi Gold Medal-2015.
K.R. Gupta Award
Presenting K.R. Gupta Award to Dr. Nimisha Vedanti, Scientist, NGRI, Hyderabad, the President in his citation said:
Dr. Nimisha Vedanti has made outstanding contributions in the field of theoretical and applied geophysics for the last 14 years at CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad.
In the beginning of her career, she focused her research on the theoretical development in geophysical inverse theory. She has modified the convergence criteria of the well-known Occam’s inversion and developed a new inversion scheme for non-linear inversion of resistivity data. She reported fractal behavior of the Earth’s geo-electric & thermal properties and developed a methodology for prediction of surface heat-flow from the seismic structure.
Her recent accomplishments in exploration include developing novel methods for characterizing reservoirs using seismic and well log data. She demonstrated a successful application of 4D-seismic inversion in reservoir monitoring and suggested a production strategy for the low producing heavy oil field of Cambay basin. She also designed an optimum CO2 injection strategy for maximum oil recovery from the Ankleshwar reservoir in collaboration with ONGC. Further, she has collaborated with Statoil, Norway to carry out high end research on reservoir characterization to understand the CO2 sequestration process in the Sleipner field, which is the first commercial example of CO2 storage in a deep saline aquifer. Recently, Dr. Nimisha initiated an integrated study to understand Deccan Basalts of India. She is focusing on the development of novel modeling methods by incorporating real values of seismic properties and attenuation obtained from the drilled cores.
Dr. Nimisha is an active member of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG), USA and her areas of research include applied seismology, inverse theory and hydrocarbon reservoir characterization.
For her remarkable scientific contributions, she has received prestigious young scientist awards from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) and best technical paper award from Society of Petroleum Geophysicts, India. She was invited by Society of Exploration Geophysicts (SEG), USA to chair a technical session in annual meeting – 2014. Her work on reservoir characterization has great impact on petroleum industry and in words of Prof. Jose Carcione, Editor of the most reputed exploration journal ‘GEOPHYSICS’ “There are very few papers on the topic of EOR monitoring via seismic acquired on land data, and I think that your contribution will be valued by others in the profession and in industry”.
While receiving the Award Dr. Nimisha Vedanti said:
I am greatly humbled and honored to be receiving the K.R. Gupta award. I am very thankful to the Geological Society of India for this honor. Today, I am thinking of the people who have influenced and shaped my scientific path and personal growth over the past 14 years.
My journey in research started at NGRI with a DST sponsored
project on detailed geophysical study of Jabera-Damoh region of the southern Vindhayan basin and while working on this project, I came to know Dr. K.R. Gupta, who was the then Advisor at DST. The last time, I interacted with him was for the publication of GSI Memoir-53 on ‘Indian Continental Lithosphere’, which he was editing with Dr. T.M. Mahadevan and Dr. B.R. Arora. I still remember his kind and encouraging words and here, I take an opportunity to express my sincere gratitude towards Late Dr. K.R. Gupta.
As a student at BHU, I was always terrified of theoretical geophysics but at NGRI, I was extremely fortunate to have Dr. V.P. Dimri as a mentor and PhD supervisor, who taught me signal-processing and inverse theory. His guidance, encouragement, and mentoring has helped make me the person I am today. I feel privileged and proud to be called as ‘his student’ throughout my life.
After completion of my PhD, I got an opportunity to work on ‘exploration seismic’ with eminent Professor ‘Mrinal K. Sen’ as a BOYSCAST Fellow at the University of Texas, Austin, USA. Professor Sen introduced me to the upcoming field of research in seismic reservoir characterization. He is the person, who gave me enough strength to stride over rough waters, also tightened the screws when required. His confidence in me is, to a great extent, responsible for my career values.
When I joined NGRI in 2000 as a PhD student, Dr. Harsh Gupta was the then Director. Though he was loaded with a lot of additional administrative responsibilities, he gave his time generously to listen to the students and discuss their problems. He always motivated us to come out of our shells and lead.
Once again, I sincerely thank all of you for being here this afternoon.
Presenting K.R. Gupta Award to Shri Israil Khan, Senior Geologist, Geological Survey of India, Jaipur, the President in his citation said:
Shri Israil Khan in the beginning of his career served as Geologist in National Aluminium Company Limited for eight years before joining Geological Survey of India in December, 2004.
His main areas of work include mineral exploration, quality control, mine planning and reserve estimation in bauxite and base metal exploration. He has acquired well founded knowledge in application of geostatistical tools including krigging in processing the mineral exploration data. He developed proficiency in bauxite inventory while working in Panchpatmali Bauxite Mine (East Coast Bauxite), the largest bauxite mine in Asia owned by National Aluminium Company Limited.
multidisciplinary integrated exploration strategies to discover the copper deposit for the first time in Western India.
For this discovery he has been conferred Geoscientist Award, 2012 by Geological Survey of India, Western Region, Jaipur and the prestigious National Geoscience Award, 2013. Currently he is working as Senior Geologist and the project In-charge at Mundiyawas-Khera area, Rajasthan and a guest faculty of Geological Survey of India, Training Institute both at RTI, Jaipur and FTC, Zawar. He is also a member of Auctionable Mining blocks in Ministry of Mines.
In recognition of his outstanding contribution in the field of Economic Geology, Shri Israil Khan is being conferred with the prestigious K. R. Gupta Award for the year 2015.
While receiving the Award Shri Israil Khan said:
I feel deeply privileged and greatly honoured to receive the prestigious K. R Gupta Award for the year 2015. I am highly indebted to President and Members of the Council of the Geological Society of India for bestowing this honour. On this auspicious occasion, I take this opportunity to thank all my mentors, teachers, friends and well-wishers who not only taught me geology but have also encouraged and showed the path of journey to work in a better spirit for the growth of the organisation and the nation. My interest in Ore Geology goes back to my days at Utkal University, Bhubaneswar when I had the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of Ore Geology.
I am highly thankful to all my teachers, mentors and senior colleagues for their constant guidance in introducing me to the various developments in the earth sciences in turn guiding me to my on-going PhD work. Their patience and encouragement are to a great extent responsible for my career growth. I acknowledge Geological Survey of India, my parent department for providing the platform to work on different challenging areas, giving me the opportunity and needed facility to work. I am indebted for the blessings which I got from my parents and family members. It would be incomplete if I don’t mention about my wife, Firdosh Jahan, who has all through encouraged me to overcome all the struggles and to my sons Ehtesham Israil and Ehteram Israil, who have been a source of inspiration to me throughout. I am totally overwhelmed to receive the prestigious K. R. Gupta Award for the year 2015.
Presenting K.R. Gupta Award to Dr. Mithila Verma, Scientist, Ministry of Earth Science, New Delhi the President in his citation said:
Dr. Verma, has been actively involved in Earth Science studies since 2006 and has made significant contributions in the form of new initiatives and findings, such as 1) Initiation of School earthquake education programme; 2) Facilitated the establishment of Multi-parametric Geophysical Observatories in NW and NE Himalaya for comprehensive earthquake precursor studies; 3) Strengthened permanent geodetic network of the country and initiated slow earthquake monitoring in NW Himalaya. She has carried out detailed analysis and review of crustal deformation
and earthquake precursory studies in India. She has played a significant role in developing a major program on Active Fault Mapping in India which aimed at preparing active fault maps of different regions of the country in GIS format and library of active fault data.
Besides, Dr. Verma has recently done significant work in earthquake and active fault research, such as detailed analysis of the Mw 5.7 Kishtwar earthquake of May 1, 2013 and seismic cluster (Mw 3.5-5.7) of May-August, 2013 occurred in Kishtwar region of Kashmir Himalaya to gain insight into the source characteristics of seismicity in the Kishtwar region, obtain fresh constraints on the functional seismotectonics of the region, identify the possible source for reactivation and assessment of changing earthquake hazard scenario of the NW Himalaya. She has studied 2014 Kangra earthquake (Mw 4.9) occurred in the close vicinity of 1905 (Mw 7.8) major earthquake of Kangra region to gain insight into the source mechanism of the large event which was not well defined due to unavailability of seismic data, along with seismoteconic implications.
Her work on some specific problems like largest earthquake in Himalaya, analysis on seismic gaps in Himalaya and role of soft sediments in damage pattern during large earthquakes with implication to seismic risk evaluation are also worth mentioning. Dr. Mithila Verma was awarded Jammu University Gold Medal and Dr. N. Dasarathi Memorial Gold Medal in 2002. She has been conferred with MoES Certificate of Merit Award in 2014 for her outstanding contribution in initiation of Active Fault mapping in India.
While receiving the Award Dr. Mithila Verma said:
I am greatly humbled and honoured to be receiving this award. I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to the President and the members of Council of the Geological society of India for this honor.
I also want to pay my respects to the legendary figure Late Shri K.R. Gupta, who has done a marvelous job in promoting Earth Science studies in India and in whose name this award is instituted. Fortunately, I am privileged to have amazing teachers and mentors, in fact, some are here today. Their guidance and encouragement have helped me in advancing my endeavors. I enjoyed the freedom of work while working in the Ministry. Such a work environment has encouraged me to take up many new initiatives while implementing some of the important programs of the Ministry and to take a lead towards developing a major programme on active fault mapping in India as an important step towards detailed seismic hazard assessment in the country. I am grateful for such a freedom and support from my seniors.
Needless to say, I have had and continue to have a lot of support from family members and good friends. I sincerely thank everyone who has helped me during my journey till date.
In the last, I dedicate this award to my beloved Parents and Siblings particularly, my elder sister who unconditionally supported me to pursue my studies and the desired career. Thank you all once again.
4. Presenting K.R. Gupta Award to Dr. Dewashish Upadhyay, Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, the President in his citation said:
Dr. Dewashish Upadhyay is a petrologist and a geochemist whose research interest spans the fields of geochemistry, isotope geology, geochronology, petrology and cosmo chemistry. In his research career of over 13 years, Dr. Upadhyay has made significant contributions under two themes. The first, which dwells on the fundamentals of Earth’s processes, Dr. Upadhyay has contributed to the understanding of the response of the U-Pb chronometer and trace elements in zircon to ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism, mass-fractionation and reservoir mixing processes during thermal ionization mass spectrometry, use of short-lived decay system to constrain early silicate differentiation of Earth, characterization of non-nucleosynthetic heterogeneity in the early solar system using non-radiogenic stable Hf isotopes in meteorites and understanding fluid-induced dissolution-precipitation mass transfer metasomatic replacement reaction mechanisms in minerals. Under the second theme that focuses on understanding the geodynamic evolution of the Indian shield, Dr. Upadhyay has contributed significantly to our understanding of the magmatic and metamorphic history of the earliest felsic crust from the Singhbhum Craton, Proterozoic crustal rifting and accretion in the eastern and southeastern parts of the Indian Shield as well as the tectonothermal history of ultra-high-temperature metapelites from the Eastern Ghats Belt. Results of the aforesaid research of Dr. Upadhyay have been published in reputed international journals and have been positively cited many a times. At IIT Kharagpur, Dr. Dewashish Upadhyay has been
instrumental in setting up state-of-the-art radiogenic isotope and geochronology facility which has just begun operation.
In a written response Dr. Dewashish Upadhyay said:
I feel honored to have been selected for the KR Gupta award. I would like to thank the President and the council members of the Society for bestowing this award on me.
I take this opportunity to thank my teachers, colleagues, collaborators, friends and students who have supported me throughout. I am afraid to take names of individuals lest I miss out someone in this overwhelming moment. I hope this recognition will inspire me to continue contributing whatever little I can to the progress of geoscience research in our country. I am especially indebted to my wife, Amita, who has always been by my side and patiently supported and tolerated my academic indulgences.
A new feature introduced at the conclusion of the Awards ceremony has been the brief presentations by the Awardees on the salient aspects of their research work highlighting their specific contribution to the advancement of knowledge in their specific areas of work. The President in conclusion assured the General Body that all constructive suggestions made by the Fellows with regard to various aspects of the activities of the Society would be taken into consideration by the council in the current year (2015-16) in progress.
The Ministry of Earth Sciences conducted a special review meeting to take stock of the current status of research on seismo-tectonics and continental collision seismo-tectonics on the forenoon of 8 September, 2015 to coincide with the AGM of the Geological Society of India where several invited experts/researchers participated.
Excursions
A visit to the Thikse Monastery located at a distance of 20 km
to the East of Leh was organized for the participants on the forenoon of 8 September, 2015.Situated at an altitude of 11,800’ on a Ladakh Batholith hill-top with a panoramic view of the Indus Valley as well as the Indus Group of sediments across at a distance, the Monastery with a 12-storey complex houses very valuable and ancient Buddhist art such as stupas, thangkas, wall paintings and other murals. An imposing 49’ high Maitreya Buddha statue installed to commemorate the visit of H.E. the 14th Dalai Lama to the Monastery in 1970 leaves one spell-bound. Buddhist monks, both young and old chanting prayers accompanied by cymbals, bells and other Ladakhi/Tibetan musical instruments add to the sublime atmosphere of this 15th century edifice.
A one day field trip from Leh to Pangongtso Lake was organized on the 9th September 2015 for the participants of the AGM, which included Shri S.V. Srikantia, Vice-President of the Geological Society of India and a noted Himalayan Geologist
and Prof. Vaidyanadhan, also Vice-President of the Geological Society of India and a noted Geomorphologist with their valuable and educative field observations on the geology traversed. The route passes through the Changla Pass at an altitude of 17,590’, where courtesy of an Indian Army Camp, hot tea was made available to all itinerants. The DRDO has set up a research station here recently to conduct work on high-altitude bio-medicine, material and agro-animal research, where the winter minimum temperatures can plunge to -400 C. A thin wedge of the Karakoram shear zone sequence is crossed near Tagste before reaching the Pangongtso Lake well within the Karakoram Metamorphic Complex.
The Society is beholden to Prof. G.M. Bhat and his associates / research scholars for the services rendered for making all the arrangements for a successful conduct of AGM-2015 at Leh, Ladakh.
(a) Thikse Monastery located on the Ladakh Batholith. (b) Thikse Monastery - Buddha in Sanctum Sanctroum. (c) A view of the Indus Group Sediments across the Indus valley from the Thikse Monastery. (d) Confluence of river Zanskar (top and Indus flowing left to right in Nimmu valley near Leh, Ladakh)
(a) (b)
