GATE Geology and Geophysics Syllabus



Subject Code: GG

Course Structure

Sections/Units Topics
Common Section
Unit 1 Earth and Planetary system
Unit 2 Weathering and soil formation
Unit 3 Introduction to remote sensing
Unit 4 Principles and applications of gravity
Section A Geology
Unit 1 Geomorphic processes and agents
Unit 2 Mechanism of rock deformation
Unit 3 Crystallography
Unit 4 Cosmic abundance of elements
Unit 5 Igneous rocks
Unit 6 Physico-chemical conditions of metamorphism and concept of metamorphic facies, grade and baric types
Unit 7 Morphology, classification and geological significance of important invertebrates, vertebrates, plant fossils and microfossils
Unit 8 Principles of Stratigraphy and concepts of correlation
Unit 9 Ore-mineralogy and optical properties of ore minerals
Unit 10 Engineering properties of rocks and soils
Section B Geophysics
Unit 1 The earth as a planet
Unit 2 Scalar and vector potential fields
Unit 3 Absolute and relative gravity measurements
Unit 4 Elements of Earth’s magnetic field
Unit 5 Conduction of electricity through rocks
Unit 6 Basic concept of EM induction in the earth
Unit 7 Seismic methods of prospecting
Unit 8 Geophysical signal processing
Unit 9 Principles and techniques of geophysical well-logging
Unit 10 Radioactive methods of prospecting and assaying
Unit 11 Basic concepts of forward and inverse problems

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 −

    • Silicate 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 divisions 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 applications 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 applied geomorphology

Unit 2: Mechanism of rock deformation

  • Primary and secondary structures
  • Geometry and genesis of folds, faults, joints and unconformities
  • Cleavage, schistosity and lineation
  • 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 equilibria 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 pelitic, 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 −

    • Sampling

    • 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 hydraulics
    • Water quality
  • 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 satellite 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, cylindrical 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 anomalies

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

Unit 4: Elements of Earth’s magnetic field

  • Units of measurement
  • Magnetic susceptibility of rocks and measurements
  • Magnetometer land, airborne and marine magnetic surveys
  • Various corrections applied 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 anomalies-geometrical shaped bodies
  • Depth estimates
  • Image processing concepts in processing of magnetic anomaly maps
  • Interpretation of processed magnetic anomaly data
  • Applications 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 profiling

  • Application 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 applications of ip, ground-water exploration, mineral exploration, environmental and engineering applications

Unit 6: Basic concept of EM induction in the earth

  • Skin-depth

  • Elliptic 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 profiling

  • Time domain EM method

  • EM scale modeling

  • Processing of EM data and interpretation

  • Geological applications 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

  • Sampling theorem
  • Aliasing
  • 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
    • Caliper
    • Nuclear magnetic
    • Cement bond logging
    • Micro-logs
  • Quantitative evaluation of formations from well logs
  • well hydraulics and application of geophysical methods for groundwater study
  • application 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-life

    • Decay constant

    • Radioactive equilibrium

    • G M counter

    • Scintillation detector

    • Semiconductor devices

    • Application 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 stability of solutions

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

  • Quasilinear and non-linear methods including Tikhonov’s regularization method, Singular Value Decomposition, Backus-Gilbert method, simulated annealing, genetic algorithms and artificial neural network

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