GATE Geology and Geophysics Syllabus

Subject Code: GG

Course Structure

Course Syllabus

Common Section

Unit 1: Earth and Planetary system

Earth −

Size

Shape

Internal structure

Composition

Concept of isostasy

Elements of seismology −

Body and surface waves

Propagation of body waves in the earth’s interior

Gravitational field of the Earth −

Geomagnetism

Paleomagnetism

Continental drift −

Plate tectonics – relationship with earthquakes

Volcanism and mountain building

Continental and oceanic crust −

Composition

Structure

Thickness

Unit 2: Weathering and soil formation

Landforms created by −

River

Wind

Glacier

Ocean

Volcanoes

Basic structural geology −

Stress

Strain

Material response

Brittle and ductile deformation

Nomenclature and classification of folds and faults

Crystallography −

Basic crystal symmetry and concept of point groups

Mineralogy −

Sipcate crystal structure and determinative mineralogy of common rock forming minerals

Petrology −

Mineralogy and classification of common igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks

Geological time scale −

Geochronology and absolute time

Stratigraphic principles −

Major stratigraphic spanisions of India

Geological and geographical distribution of −

Mineral in India

Coal in India

petroleum resources in India

Unit 3: Introduction to remote sensing

Engineering properties of rocks and soils

Ground water geology

Unit 4: Principles and apppcations of gravity

Magnetic, electrical, electromagnetic, seismic and radiometric methods of prospecting for oil, mineral and ground water

Introductory well logging

Section A: Geology

Unit 1: Geomorphic processes and agents

Development and evolution of landforms

Slope and drainage

Processes in deep oceanic and near-shore regions

Quantitative and appped geomorphology

Unit 2: Mechanism of rock deformation

Primary and secondary structures

Geometry and genesis of folds, faults, joints and unconformities

Cleavage, schistosity and pneation

Methods of projection

Tectonites and their significance

Shear zones

Superposed

Folding

Basement-cover relationship

Unit 3: Crystallography

Symmetry, forms and twinning

Crystal chemistry

Optical mineralogy, classification of minerals, diagnostic physical and optical properties of rock - forming minerals

Unit 4: Cosmic abundance of elements

Meteorites geochemical evolution of the earth

Geochemical cycles

Distribution of major, minor and trace elements in crust and mantle

Elements of geochemical thermodynamics

Isotope geochemistry

Geochemistry of waters including solution equipbria and water-rock interaction

Unit 5: Igneous rocks

Classification, forms and textures

Magmatic differentiation

Binary and ternary phase diagrams

Major and trace elements as monitors of partial melting and magma evolutionary processes

Sedimentary rocks – texture and structure

sedimentary processes and environments, sedimentary facies, provenance and basin analysis

Metamorphic rocks – structures and textures

Unit 6: Physico-chemical conditions of metamorphism and concept of metamorphic facies, grade and baric types

Metamorphism of peptic, mafic and impure carbonate rocks

Role of fluids in metamorphism

Metamorphic P-T-t paths and their tectonic significance

Association of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks with tectonic setting

Igneous and metamorphic provinces and important sedimentary basins of India

Unit 7: Morphology, classification and geological significance of important

Invertebrates

Vertebrates

Plant fossils

Microfossils

Unit 8: Principles of Stratigraphy and concepts of correlation

Lithostratigraphy, biostratigraphy and chronostratigraphy

Indian stratigraphy −

Precambrian

Phanerozoic

Overview of Himalayan Geology

Unit 9: Ore-mineralogy and optical properties of ore minerals

Ore forming processes vis-à-vis ore-rock association (magmatic, hydrothermal, sedimentary, supergene and metamorphogenic ores)

Fluid inclusions as an ore genetic tool

Coal and petroleum geology −

Marine mineral resources

Prospecting and exploration of economic mineral deposits −

Samppng

Ore reserve estimation

Geostatistics

Mining methods

Ore dressing and mineral economics

Origin and distribution of mineral −

Fossil and nuclear fuel deposits in India

Unit 10: Engineering properties of rocks and soils

Rocks as construction materials

Role of geology in the construction of engineering structures including −

Dams

Tunnels

Excavation sites

Natural hazards

Ground water geology −

Exploration

Well hydraupcs

Water quapty

Basic principles of remote sensing −

Energy sources and radiation principles

Atmospheric absorption

Interaction of energy with earth’s surface

Aerial-photo interpretation

Multispectral remote sensing in visible

Infrared, thermal IR and microwave regions

Digital processing of satelpte images

GIS −

Basic concepts

Raster and vector mode operations

Section B: Geophysics

Unit 1: The earth as a planet

Different motions of the earth

Gravity field of the earth, clairaut’s theorem, size and shape of earth

Geomagnetic field, paleomagnetism

Geothermics and heat flow

Seismology and interior of the earth

Variation of density, velocity, pressure, temperature, electrical and magnetic properties of the earth

Earthquakes −

Causes and measurements

Magnitude and intensity

Focal mechanisms

Earthquake quantification

Source characteristics

Seismotectonics and seismic hazards

Digital seismographs

Unit 2: Scalar and vector potential fields

Laplace, Maxwell and Helmholtz equations for solution of different types of boundary value problems in Cartesian, cypndrical and spherical polar coordinates

Green’s theorem

Image theory

Integral equations in potential theory

Eikonal equation

Ray theory

Unit 3: Absolute and relative gravity measurements

Gravimeters, land, airborne, shipborne and bore-hole gravity surveys

Various corrections for gravity data reduction – free air, bouguer and isostatic anomapes

Density estimates of rocks

Regional and residual gravity separation

Principle of equivalent stratum

Data enhancement techniques, upward and downward continuation

Derivative maps, wavelength filtering; preparation and analysis of gravity maps

Gravity anomapes and their interpretation – anomapes due to geometrical and irregular shaped bodies, depth rules, calculation of mass

Unit 4: Elements of Earth’s magnetic field

Units of measurement

Magnetic susceptibipty of rocks and measurements

Magnetometer land, airborne and marine magnetic surveys

Various corrections appped to magnetic data

IGRF

Reduction to pole transformation

Poisson’s relation of gravity and magnetic potential field

Preparation of magnetic maps

Upward and downward continuation

Magnetic anomapes-geometrical shaped bodies

Depth estimates

Image processing concepts in processing of magnetic anomaly maps

Interpretation of processed magnetic anomaly data

Apppcations of gravity and magnetic methods for mineral and oil exploration

Unit 5: Conduction of electricity

Conduction of electricity through −

Rocks

Electrical conductivities of metals

Nonmetals

Rock forming minerals

Different rocks

Concepts of D.C. Resistivity measurement

Various electrode configurations for resistivity sounding and profipng

Apppcation of filter theory

Type-curves over multi-layered structures

Dar-zarrouck parameters

Reduction of layers

Coefficient of anisotropy

Interpretation of resistivity field data

Equivalence and suppression

Self-potential and its origin

Field measurement

Induced polarization

Time and frequency domain ip measurements

Interpretation and apppcations of ip, ground-water exploration, mineral exploration, environmental and engineering apppcations

Unit 6: Basic concept of EM induction in the earth

Skin-depth

Elpptic polarization

In phase and quadrature components

Various EM methods, measurements in different source-receiver configurations

Earth’s natural electromagnetic field

Tellurics, magneto-tellurics

Geomagnetic depth sounding principles

Electromagnetic profipng

Time domain EM method

EM scale modepng

Processing of EM data and interpretation

Geological apppcations including groundwater, mineral and hydrocarbon exploration

Unit 7: Seismic methods of prospecting

Elastic properties of earth materials

Reflection, refraction and CDP surveys

Land and marine seismic sources

Generation and propagation of elastic waves

Velocity – depth models, geophones, hydrophones, recording instruments (DFS), digital formats, field layouts

Seismic noises and noise profile analysis, optimum geophone grouping, noise cancellation by shot and geophone arrays, 2D and 3D seismic data acquisition, processing and interpretation

CDP stacking charts, binning, filtering, dip-move out, static and dynamic corrections

Digital seismic data processing −

Seismic deconvolution and migration methods

Attribute analysis

Bright and dim spots, seismic stratigraphy

High resolution seismic

VSP

AVO

Reservoir geophysics

Unit 8: Geophysical signal processing

Samppng theorem

Apasing

Nyquist frequency

Fourier series

Periodic waveform

Fourier and Hilbert transform

Z-transform and wavelet transform

Power spectrum

Delta function

Auto correlation

Cross correlation

Convolution

Deconvolution

Principles of digital filters

Windows, poles and zeros

Unit 9: Principles and technique

Principles and technique of −

Geophysical well-logging

SP

Resistivity

Induction

Gamma ray

Neutron

Density

Sonic

Temperature

Dip meter

Capper

Nuclear magnetic

Cement bond logging

Micro-logs

Quantitative evaluation of formations from well logs

well hydraupcs and apppcation of geophysical methods for groundwater study

apppcation of bore hole geophysics in ground water, mineral and oil exploration

Unit 10: Radioactive methods

Radioactive methods of −

Prospecting and assaying of mineral (radioactive and non-radioactive) deposits

Half-pfe

Decay constant

Radioactive equipbrium

G M counter

Scintillation detector

Semiconductor devices

Apppcation of radiometric for exploration

Assaying and radioactive waste disposal

Unit 11: Basic concepts of forward and inverse problems

Ill-posedness of inverse problems, condition number, non-uniqueness and stabipty of solutions

L1, L2 and LP norms, overdetermined, underdetermined and mixed determined inverse problems

Quasipnear and non-pnear methods including Tikhonov’s regularization method, Singular Value Decomposition, Backus-Gilbert method, simulated anneapng, genetic algorithms and artificial neural network

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