Doctoral Programmes

Name of the Programme

Ph.D. in Applied Geophysics

Scheme of the programme

DEPARTMENT OF GEOPHYSICS

KURUKSHETRA UNIVERSITY KURUKSHETRA

Ph. D. Course Work (Main Subject)

Paper-I: Research Methodology

Time: 03 Hours                                                                                                           Credits: 04

Note: Five questions will be set and students are required to attempt four questions in all. Question No. 1 will be compulsory.

Geostatistics and Error Analysis: concepts of mean, mode, median, correlation, Attenuation relation/regression, Deterministic and probabilistic seismic hazard techniques, earthquake source parameters and their estimation, concept of magnitude and intensity scales, earthquake localization and seismic phases; Origin of Himalaya, tectonics & seismicity of Himalaya, different models of Himalaya, Basics of signal processing, DFT, FFT, fundamentals of linear and non-linear inverse problems and solutions, Ethics in research, Kurukshetra University palagrism rules and regulations, Meaning of H-Index, I-10 index, Impact Factor, citation index of different agencies, way of writing references.

Paper-II: Subject Elective

Time: 03 Hours                                                                                                           Credits: 04

Note: Five questions will be set and students are required to attempt four questions in all. Question No. 1 will be compulsory.

Concept  of  strong  motion: characteristics  of  earthquake  strong  ground  motion,  time  domain  and  frequency domain parameters of strong ground motion,  strong motion array and recorder, dynamics of vibration, vibration of a single degree of freedom system, earthquake response spectra, Strong motion networks in India, Modelling  of  strong  ground  motion:  Stochastic  modelling  technique,  concept  of  dynamic  corner frequency,  Empirical  Greens  function  technique,  Semi  empirical  technique  and  Composite  source modelling technique, hybrid technique.

Wave  attenuation:  geometrical  spreading,  scattering  and  intrinsic  attenuation,  Quality  factor  Q  and  its estimation using frequency domain methods, origin of coda waves, coda-Q and its estimation, estimation of  frequency  independent  and  frequency  dependent  Q  using  strong  ground  motion,  simultaneous estimation of source parameters and Q, concept of 3-D Q and its estimation.

Concept  of  earthquake  hazard,  vulnerability  and  risk,  probabilistic  versus  deterministic  approach  of estimating  earthquake hazard,  seismic quiescence/gaps,  Regression analysis for estimating  peak ground motion,  microzonation,  site  amplification,  concept  of  earthquake  resistant  design,  Indian  earthquake hazard scenario.

Receiver functions,  Seismicity  based  studies-  b-value,  fractal  and  multifractal  analysis,  Dq-q  analysis,  self similarity,   Ray tracing, Anisotropy, Time predictable model, GPS based studies in seismology,

Paper-III: Term Paper

Note: There will be no written test of Paper-III (Term Paper). However, the evaluation of Seminar and Research Assignment/literature/survey etc. will be done by the Departmental Research Advisory Committee.

It will comprise of the following two activities:

(i) Seminar in the thrust area(s) of the research work:           02 credits

(ii) Research assignment/ literature/survey, etc.         :           02 credits

For above two activities, students are required to contact their respective supervisors

DEPARTMENT OF GEOPHYSICS

KURUKSHETRA UNIVERSITY KURUKSHETRA

Ph. D. Course Work

Paper-I: Research Methodology

Time: 03 Hours                                                                                   Credits: 04 (100 Marks)

Note: Five questions will be set and students are required to attempt four questions in all. Question No. 1 will be compulsory.

Geostatistics and Error Analysis: concepts of mean, mode median, correlation, regression analysis.  Solutions of linear inverse problems: Least square solution, Minimum length solution,damped least square solution, Solution of non-linear inverse problems: Iterative methods.  A brief description of Global optimization techniques: Genetic algorithm, Simulation annealing techniques.

Paper-II: Subject Elective

Time: 03 Hours                                                                       Credits: 04 (100 Marks)

Note: Five questions will be set and students are required to attempt four questions in all. Question No. 1 will be compulsory.

Principles of Gravity method, concept of Geoid, Spheroid, variation of gravity with elevation and depth, determination of density, isostasy and gravity.  Gravity Prospecting Instruments: Absolute versus Relative measurements of Gravity, Pendulum apparatus, stable and unstable gravimeters, calibration of gravimeters, LaCoste-Romberg gravimeter, Wordern gravimeter.  Gravity survey on land: setting up of a base station, tide and drift corrections, the reduction of gravity data: the latitude adjustment, the elevation adjustment, the excess mass adjustment, terrain correction, Derivation of expressions for Bouguer correction and Terrain correction, Gravity anomalies: Bouguer anomaly, Free air anomaly and Isostatic anomaly, Gravity anomaly and isostasy.  Applications of gravity method in oil and mineral exploration.  Separation of residual and regional anomalies: Graphical method, direct computation, second derivative method, polynomial fitting method, wavelength filtering, downward continuation.

Paper-III

(a) Research and Publication ethics

Time: 2 Hours                                                                                      Credits: 02 (50 Marks)

Note: Three questions will be set and students are required to attempt two questions in all.  

Philosophy and Ethics: Introduction to philosophy and ethics, Scientific Conduct:  Ethics with respect to science and research, Kurukshetra University plagiarism rules and regulations, Publication Ethics: Best practices, conflicts of interest, Publication mis-conduct.

Impact Factor of journals, Matrics: h-Index, g-index, i-10 index, citation index of different agencies, ways of writing references. Developing research proposal in the field of Geosciences. Research approach and identifying gap areas from literature review; problem formulation and statement of research objectives.

(b) Seminar in Thrust area/Research Assignment/Literature Survey etc

Credits: 02 (50 Marks)

Note: There will be no written test of Paper-III (b). However, the evaluation of Seminar and Research Assignment/literature/survey etc. will be done by the Departmental Research Advisory Committee.

It will comprise of the following two activities:

(i) Seminar in the thrust area(s) of the research work:           01 credits

(ii) Research assignment/ literature/survey, etc.         :           01 credits

For above two activities, students are required to contact their respective supervisors