Research

Current Research Interests

Ongoing Projects/Research Activities

Integrated geophysical study in the east geothermal province, Eastern Ghats Belt, Odisha, India: an insight into the geothermal system and tectonic setup 

Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, 2015-2020

Assessing the impact of chromite ore processing residue (COPR) dump on ground water aquifers at Umaran, Kanpur, India: A geophysical perspective

Self funded

Characterization and monitoring of contaminant plume migration from waste dump sites in shallow aquifers using time-lapse geophysical studies coupled with geo-chemical analyses and associated hydro-geological modelling

[Co-PIs: Prof. Abhas Singh (CE) and Prof. Rajesh Srivastava (CE)] 

Core Research Grant, Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, 2021-2024.

Low frequency impedance reconstruction from reflection seismic data, acoustic wave propagation and modelling

Self fundedIn collaboration with Dr. Santi Kumar Ghosh (Retired Scientist, NGRI, Hyderabad, India)

Seismic data interpretation using multi attribute analysis and ANN

Self funded

Completed Projects

Innovative methods for geophysical data analysis, modelling and application to field data

Summary: In one part of this project work, a hybrid approach has been developed to enhance the performance of Bi-dimensional Empirical Mode Decomposition (BEMD) in regional-residual separation of gravity anomaly by jointly employing low pass filter and BEMD in MATLAB. The efficacy of this hybrid approach was demonstrated using noisy synthetic and field data (Mandal and Niyogi, 2018). Another significant outcome of this work is the demonstration of effective  reconstruction of broad and smooth impedance profile from first principles and even from acquired seismic reflection data. Here, we have logically extended the earlier work of Ghosh and Mandal (2016) and proposed an approach and demonstrated its success in field data (Mandal and Ghosh, 2020).

IIT Kanpur (Initiation Grant), 2015-2017

Integrated geophysical study for delineating detail subsurface structures and possible mineral deposits around Madawara region, Lalitpur, U. P., India 

Summary: Integrated gravity–magnetic study over Madawara Igneous Complex (MIC) in southern part of Bundelkhand Craton helped to decipher shallow crustal configuration and mineralized zones, thereby to improve the understanding of tectonic evolution of the region. Analyses of acquired gravity and magnetic data sets and 2D inverse modeling of residual gravity anomaly have deciphered the basement configuration and subsurface continuity of mafic-ultramafic intrusive bodies thereupon providing important clues on magmatic evolution. Correlation with previous geo-chemical results (i.e., high concentration of Cr-Ni-PGE) and high gravity-magnetic anomaly over exposed mafic-ultramafic rocks helped to delineate new prospective zones in MIC (Mandal et al., 2020). 

Early Career Research Award, Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, 2016-2019.