Our Director

Dr. Y.J. Bhaskar Rao obtained his M.Sc., (Geology) in 1975 and Ph.D. (Geology) in 1982 from the Osmania University, Hyderabad. He commenced his research career with a Junior Research Fellowship at the NGRI in late 1975, which was a prelude to his continuing professional career at the NGRI as a scientist. He was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA during 1981-82.

With a basic fascination for geology, geochemistry and geochronology, Dr. Rao contributed significantly to our understanding of the formation and evolution of the Precambrian crust of India. Over the last decade, he also played an active part in establishing state of the art analytical facilities at the NGRI, enabling high-impact research in petrology, geochemistry and isotope geochemistry besides providing leadership in the formulation and execution of multi-disciplinary research programs. His scientific contributions are summarized below:

Contribution to the Precambrian geology of the Indian shield

Appreciating the vast and unique Precambrian geologic record of the Indian shield and its potential in providing rare windows into Earth’s Crustal Evolution, Dr. Rao chose, for a career, a detailed study of key sections of the Indian Precambrian. His studies integrated geological observations with new and precise Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd geochronological and geochemical data on several key Precambrian rock units to contribute significantly to our understanding of the assembly and evolution of the Precambrian (>0.55 Ga or Billion years) crust of south India. For example, he has provided (i) the first evidence for ca. 3.0 Ga metamorphic event and geochemical evidence for juvenile protoliths of the 3.3 Ga trondhjemitic gneisses in the Western Dharwar Craton (WDC); (ii) evidence for a younger age limit of ca. 3.2 Ga for the oldest supra-crustals of the WDC; (iii) Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd ages and source characteristics of the key late Archaean volcanic formations in the WDC; (iv) Sm-Nd age of ca.2.9 Ga for the classic Sittampundi layered anorthosite complex in the Palghat-Cauvery shear zone providing basic constraints for reconstruction of India in the Eastern Gondwana Super-continent; (v) first description of a belt of ca. 2.6 Ga high temperature granulites along the Godavari graben (vi) the demonstration that early sedimentation in the Cuddapah basin was not later than 1.8 Ga, much earlier than believed previously, and many such contributions.

Dr. Rao participated in several international field excursions and extensive discussion meetings with peers on granite-greenstone terrains of other continents such as Karelia (Russia) and Western Australia, which led to the description of unique features of the Precambrian of southern India.

Dr. Rao’s studies helped immensely in the delineation of the Archaean-Proterozoic Terrain boundary in the SGT. His studies demonstrated that the Archaean granulite terrain is indeed a collage of temporally distinct crustal blocks. Despite pervasive high-grade metamorphism at ca. 2.5 Ga, the charnockite gneisses in the different blocks yield distinct protolith (T_DM) ages showing their genetic disparity. His studies also demonstrated that the terrain south of the Palghat Cauvery Shear zone comprise much younger terrains that feature a Neo-proterozoic granulite-facies metamorphism and were accreted to the Archaean crust during the Neoproterozoic. His provided detailed description of the contrasting geochemical and isotopic characteristics of Archaean and Proterozoic charnockites help in the understanding of the tectonic environment and P-T conditions of magma genesis and the evolution of deep-crust in south India in terms of crust formation and recycling.

Dr. Rao also provided new Sm-Nd and in situ U-Pb zircon age data constraining the time of emplacement, metamorphism and the source compositions of several massif-type anorthosite gabbro plutons in the Eastern Ghat Granulite Terrain and the SGT (Bolongir, Bankura, Chilka lake, Oddanchatram and Perinthatta anorthosite massifs)

More recent studies (in collaboration with colleagues from GEMOC, University of Macquarie, Sydney, Australia) on the zircons from Indian rocks and river sands has led to the resolution of the basic framework of Archaean crust formation and reworking events in the Western Dharwar Craton. Preliminary results on in situ zircon dating, trace element analysis and Hf isotopic analysis indicate that major juvenile additions to the craton centered between 3.36 and 3.1 Ga. This has implications to mineral exploration programmes in the region and further detailed studies are in progress at a newly established NGRI facility.

Creation of new Microbeam Analytical Facilities for research in geochemistry and geochronology and new research projects

Confronted with the need for high spatial resolution microbeam analytical capabilities that are critical to current approaches in geochronology and isotope geochemistry research, Dr. Rao began working (since 2002) toward the establishment of a modern laboratory facility at the NGRI. An Electron Probe Micro Analyzer (EPMA), Multiple-Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS) and Quadrupole ICP-MS coupled to a Laser Ablation Microprobe (LAM) and a Clean Chemistry Laboratory are now operational at the NGRI.

A research team under the leadership of Dr. Rao is pursuing several new lines of research at this facility, for example, zirconology and non-traditional stable isotope systematics in geological materials highly relevant in addressing many problems in Earth System Science. The facility has been central to incisive petrological, geochemical and isotopic studies on a variety of rocks and minerals at different geologic settings: mid-ocean ridge basalts and polymetalic nodules and crusts from the Indian ocean, the Deccan basalts, kimberlites and mantle xenoliths and a variety of magmatic complexes from southern and central India. These studies are expected to yield new information on the oceanic and continental lithosphere.

Dr. Bhaskar Rao published about 50 research papers in peer reviewed SCI journals and presented over 120 papers at National and International Conferences. He has guided five students for Ph.D. and several Post graduate students on their dissertations. He is an Associate / Honorary Professor at several National and International Universities and a member of important committees of the DST and other agencies for establishment of laboratory facilities for Geochemistry and Geochronology in India. He has a long standing affiliation with learned societies such as the Geological Society of India, Indian Geophysical Union, Indian Association of Mass Spectrometry and the Mineralogical Society of India. He is a recipient of the National Mineral Award.