Prof. Kalachand Sain

Kalachand Sain obtained his M.Sc. (Tech) in App. Geophysics from IIT-ISM, Dhanbad in 1988, and Ph.D. in ActiveSeismology from CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad in 1995. He pursued post-doctoral research at Cambridge University (UK) and Rice University (USA), and was a visiting scientist at USGS (USA). Currently, he is JC Bose National Fellow at CSIR-NGRI, honorary Outstanding Professor at AcSIR, Ghaziabad and Advisor of DST Centre of Excellence for Climate Information at IIT Delhi. Earlier, he served as Director of Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) - DST, Dehradun, held additional charge as Director of Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleo Sciences-DST, Lucknow for a while, and was Chief Scientist and Headof Seismic Group at CSIR-NGRI.

Statement of Work: His expertise includes machine learning, seismic tomography, attribute characterization, rock physics, and advanced processing of geoscientific data. Through acquisition/procurement of data and developing novel tools for modeling and interpretation, he contributed immensely on (i) identification, characterisation and assessment of gas-hydrates - sustainable major potential energy resources along the Indian margin; (ii) delineation of conventional hydrocarbons in difficult terrains: thrust-fold belts and fore deep of Himalaya, and volcanic provinces - energy security; (iii) automatic delimitation of subsurface 3D geologic features and properties from 3D surface data - suited to industry-professionals for advanced interpretation and taking decisions for further exploration or production; (iv) assessment of geological hazards and development of early warning systems - disaster risk reduction; (v) delineation of shallow and crustal velocity-structures over numrous provinces of India covering onshore, offshore and the Himalaya - evolutionary processes and geodynamics or seismotectonics; and (vi) building institutional and human capacities - resources development

He has undertaken several national and international collaborations, delivered more than 150 plenary/invited/keynote talks (many are available in Websites/YouTube), organised international conferences, chaired many sessions at scientific fora, and conducted short courses on advanced methodologies and current topics. He has led projects worth INR 62 crores and procured industry-standard data valued at INR 160 crores. These efforts have yielded 260 SCI articles in peer-reviewed journals having 151 i10-index and 32 papers with more than 50 citations & 92 Non-SCI articles; 29 Book chapters; 12 authored/edited books; 2 Patents and 2 Copyrights; supervision for 17 Ph.D. thesis and 70 Master-dissertations. He was/is in Editorial boards of numrous journals including the 'Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics' (2011, 2021) by Springer. At present, he is the Subject Editor in Earth Sciences for the Proceedings of Indian National Science Academy by Springer Link, and Associate Editor of he Journal of Applied Geophysics, Elsevier.

Recognition: He is a Fellow of all three Indian Science Academies: Indian National Science Academy (Delhi), Indian Academy of Sciences (Bangalore), National Academy of Science in India (Allahabad), and Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Telangana Academies of Sciences (Hyderabad). His other main recognition includes National Merit Scholarship from the Min. of Education (MoE), Raman (CSIR) and BOYSCAST (DST) Fellowships, Distinguished Alumnus Award by IIT-ISM, AP Scientist Award, National Award of Excellence in Geosciences by Min. of Earth Sciences (MoES), National Mineral Award by Min. of Mines, Young Scientist Award by CSIR, Krishnan Gold Medal, Decennial Award and Dr. Hari Narain Lifetime Achievement Award by Indian Geophysical Union. He has been featured in the top 2% World's Scientists by the Stanford University and Elsevier, and continues to serve as Secretary General of Federation of Indian Geosciences Association and Chairman/Core Member of several National Committees of DST, ANRF, CSIR, MoES, MoE, MoEF&CC, NITI Aayog, Science Academies, Research Councils, Governing Bodies, Advisory Boards of premier Organizations and Institutes/Universities.

1. 1. Established Gas Hydrate Research Centre (2008) with world-class facilities and laboratory amenities at CSIR-NGRI-Hyderabad
2. 2. Prepared gas hydrates stability thickness map (2010) along the Indian margin for the identification of BSR, prime marker for gas-hydrates
3. 3. identified, Characterized and assessed gas-hydrates (1998-) in KG, Mahanadi and Andaman basins, which were later validated by drilling
4. 4. Estimated critical parameters (permeability, porosity, pore pressure) (2010-) that are pre-requisite for developing area-specific production technology
5. 5. Co-Edited Two Volumes (2014, 2019) of Mar. & Petrol. Geol. by utilising drilling and coring data of Indian National Gas Hydrates Program
6. 6. Co-Edited One Volume (2011) of Mar. & Petrol. Geol. on the occurrences of gas-hydrates in the Asia-Oceania region
7. 7. Published a Solo-Authored Booklet on 'Gas-hydrates, cleanest hydrocarbon energy resurces' by ASTC, Hyderabad, p.17
8. 8. Provided inferences on dissociation kinetics from laboratory studies to developing viable production method
9. 9. Obtained a lead for developing hydrate technology for gas storage and transportation, and desalination of seawater
10. 10. Led marine cruises for heat flow in western offshore (2007), gas-hydrates in eastern offshore (2010), and imaging Andaman plate geometry (2017
11. Hydrocarbons in Difficult Terrains: Sub-volcanics and Himalayan Belt
12. 11. Developed full waveform tomography of wide-angle seismics, first time in India, for delineation of finer details of subsurface earth
13. 12. Published a Lead-Authored Book (2023) by Wiley on ‘Tomography of Wide-angle Seismic Data’, suited to researchers and young faculties
14. 13. Imaged sub-volcanic Mesozoic in central-western India and Gondwana sediments in eastern India for hydrocarbon exploration (2000-2018)
15. 14. Delineated complex subsurface (2022-) structures in the Himalayan fore deep for hydrocarbon explorations
16. 15. Imaged subsurface disposition of geotectonic elements of fold belt of NW Himalaya, and provided an explanation of Jwalamukhi gas emanation
17. 16. Evaluated geothermal resource potential in the UK Himalaya (2020) that can be harnessed for green electricity and space heating
18. 17. Published a Lead-Edited Vol. (2022) by Geol. Soc. of India on ‘Emerging Energy Resources in India’
19. AI/ML to Geosciences
20. 18. Established AI Centre of Excellence (2022) at WIHG-DST, Dehradun for ML applications to geosciences data
21. 19. Published a Lead-Authored Book (2022) by AGU-Wiley on ‘Meta-attributes: Artificial Networking’ for researchers, faculties and professionals
22. 20. Published a Lead-Edited Vol. (2025) by Jour. of Earth System Science on ‘AI/ML in Earth Sciences’
23. 21. Imaged hydrocarbon leakage from source to surface through minute fractures in Tertiary formations of Gandok basin, Himalayan foothill (2023)
24. 22. Developed ML-enabled novel tools (2022) for automatic delineation of subsurface 3D geologic features and properties from surface data
25. 23. Delineated tectono-stratigraphic features from 3D seismic data in the Dibrugarh, Amguri and Chandmari prospects of Upper Assam Basin
26. Geological Hazards
27. 24. Demonstrated subsurface hydrological imbalances as causes of the land subsidence at Joshimath (2023)
28. 25. Explained seismicity in Delhi-NCR from seismological and Magneto Telluric investigation (2023)
29. 26. Identified seismic precursors for 2021 Chamoli ice-rock avalanche leading to develop early warning system by coupling with hydro-meteorological data
30. 27. Provided scientific explanations of flash floods/snow avalanches (2022-26) in UK, HP, J&K, and Nepal Himalayas
31. 28. Assessing and Monitoring Gongotri glacier and Bhilangana lake (2019-) at Bhagirathi basin that pose threat in downstream
32. 29. Prepared landslide risk maps (2022) in Kumaun-Garhwal Himalaya that can be translated into land-use map for developing green corridor
33. 30 Explored likelihood prediction of light earthquakes in the Himalaya and adjoining regions without specific location 7 to 30 days prior to the event 
34. 31. A Solo-Authored Book (2026, progress) by Wiley on ‘Climate Change and Sustainable Development in Himalaya’
35. Geodynamics and Basin Evolution
36. 32. Imaged crustal velocity-structures over 10 different provinces in onshore, offshore, and Himalay, and provided their geodynamic implication (2000-)
37. 33. Delimited fine-scale velocity-structures of 8 sedimentary basins, and provided their evolutionary processes and resource prospects (2000-2029)