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 modelling, advanced processing, and development of new tools for geoscientific investigation. His research covers conventional hydrocarbons, non-conventional gas-hydrates & geothermal energy resources; geo-hazards due to earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, debris flow, flash floods; sub-volcanic imaging; and seismotectonics, geodynamics, basin evolution. 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 248 SCI & 92 Non-SCI articles; 29 Book chapters; 12 authored/edited books; 2 Patents and 2 Copyrights; supervision for 16 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.

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 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. Demonstrated subsurface hydrological imbalances as causes of the land subsidence at Joshimath (2023)
2. 2. Identified precursors for 2021 Chamoli ice-rock avalanche that led to developing early warning system
3. 3. Established AI Centre of Excellence (2022) at WIHG-DST, Dehradun for ML applications to geosciences
4. 4. Provided scientific accounts of flash floods/snow avalanches (2022-24) in UK, HP, J&K Himalayas
5. 5. Assessed/Monitoring of Gongotri glacier & Bhilangana lake (2019-) at Bhagirathi basin that pose threat in downstream
6. 6. Prepared landslide risk maps (2022) in Kumaun-Garhwal Himalaya as input for developing green corridor
7. 7. Explained recent seismicity in Delhi-NCR using seismological and Magneto Telluric study (2023)
8. 8. Explored likelihood prediction of light earthquakes without any location 7 to 30 days prior to the event in NW Himalaya 
9. 9. Imaged hydrocarbon leakage from source to surface through minute fractures in Indo-Gangetic basin (2023)
10. 10. Developed ML-enabled novel tools (2022) for auto-delineation of subsurface 3D features from surface data
11. 11. Published an Authored Book (2022) by AGU-Wiley on ‘Meta-attributes: Artificial Networking’, first of its kind
12. 12. Developed full waveform tomography, first time in India, for the delineation of finer details of subsurface
13. 13. Published an Authored Book (2023) by Wiley on ‘Tomography of Wide-angle Seismic Data’, first in India
14. 14. Published an Edited Vol. (2022) by Geol. Soc. of India on ‘Emerging Energy Resources in India’
15. 15. Published an Edited Vol. (2025) by Jour. of Earth System Science on ‘AI/ML in Earth Sciences’
16. 16. An Authored Book (2026, progress) by Wiley on ‘Climate Change & Sustainable Development in Himalaya’
17. 17. An Authored Book (2026, progress) by Wiley on ‘Analysis and Interpretation of Borehole logs’
18. 18. An Edited Vol. (2026, progress) by Frontiers in Earth Science on ‘Glaciers, Sediment Flux, Hazards in Himalaya’
19. 19. Evaluated geothermal resource potential in the UK Himalaya (2020) that can be harnessed for green electricity
20. 20. Established Gas Hydrate Research Centre (2008) with world-class facilities at CSIR-NGRI-Hyderabad
21. 21. Prepared stability thickness map of gas-hydrates (2010) along the Indian margin for their identification
22. 22. Characterized/assessed gas-hydrates (1998-) in KG, Mahanadi and Andaman basins, which were proved by drilling/coring
23. 23. Estimated critical parameters (2010-) that are pre-requisite for developing hydrates production technology
24. 24. Edited Two Volumes (2014, 2019) of Mar. & Petrol. Geol. by utilising drilling and coring data of Indian NGHP
25. 25. Edited One Volume (2011) of Mar. & Petrol. Geol. on the occurrences of gas-hydrates in the Asia-Oceania
26. 26. Published a Booklet on 'Gas-hydrates, clean energy resurces' by ASTC, Hyderabad, www.astcacademy.com,  p.17
27. 27. Delineated high-resolution crustal structures over Indian onshore, offshore, and the Himalay (2000-)
28. 28. Imaged sub-volcanic Mesozoic sediments in central-western India for hydrocarbon exploration (2000-)
29. 29. Imaged fold-thrust belt of NW Himalaya, and provided an explanation for incessant supply of Jwalamukhi gas
30. 30. Led marine cruises for heat flow in western offshore (2007), gas-hydrates in eastern offshore (2010), & imaging Andaman subduction plate geometry (2017)
31. 31. Study on hydrates kinetics led to develop technology for storage of gas and its transportation, and desalination of seawater
32. 31. Laboratory experiments for simultaneous CO2 sequestration, production of carbonate minerals of economic value, and generation of orange H2