Department of Geology, Parvatibai Chowgule College of Arts and Science (Autonomous)

The students of semester six had been  to Chorla Ghat  to study the local geology of the area as a part of their B.Sc. project. The study area is located in the northeastern corner of Goa at the intersection of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra borders. The area is a hilly terrain with steep slopes, mountains and valleys covered with thick vegetation. The rocks exposed is a basalt.It is homogenous with no structural feature except joints which could be seen in most of the outcrops exposed along the road cuttings.This basalt covering the north eastern region of Goa is a part of extensive continental flood basalt eruption during the Mesozoic period in India and is called the Deccan Trap Basalt. At Chorla Ghat, The Deccan Trap Basalt appears as vertical standing outcrop along the road side.  Contributor: Dawood Shaikh

Field studies were carried out in the Canacona region of Southern Goa for the semester six students of geology under the guidance of Asst Prof. Magnolia Miranda. Various lithologies like Granites, Pegmatites, dolerite dykes, gneiss and migmatites were exposed. Our study was aimed at the Canacona Granite. This granite ranges from pink to grey in colour and has a porphyritic texture. The phenocrysts are made up of feldspars.  The largest phenocryst observed was 5.4 cms. The students were given a hands on experience on rock sampling methods, observation and documentation of various geological features in the field.  Contributor: Saili Vernekar

Our project titled “Landslides in Sadda area” in Vasco is about studying the landslides occurring within the area and also about finding the factors which are triggering these landslides. We are also going to prepare a landslide prone map for that region demarcating the landslide areas with the help of applications such as “Google Earth Pro” and “Q-GIS” and also all the houses which are affected due to the landslides. We had conducted a survey in which we had noted all the houses who had received the evacuation notices and we also as to what are the measures that they take when such landslides occur within the area. From the Google earth images and also some the gravelly laterite flow exposed at the bottom we have concluded that an ancient landslide had occurred within the area due to which benches are formed. The people have built their houses on these benches due to which landslides are getting triggered within the region. Due to undercutting of the laterite in this region for va...

The B.Sc. students of Semester II visited the Aguada Sinq headland on the 10 th of January 2018. They were accompanied by Associate Prof. H.S.S.Nadkarni, Assistant Prof. Meghana Devli and Assistant Prof. Akshay Kelkar.  The country rock exposed was Metagreywacke which showed relict features like ripple marks and current bedding.  The country rock was intruded by dolerite dykes. The dolerite dyke is medium in grain size, but finer grained at the margins due to chilling effect. The rocks showed structural features like joints and displacements.  Various erosional landforms were also observed like sea cliff, wave cut platform, Sea cave, honeycomb weathering, potholes, and Headlands/Bay. The students had a hands on experience on the use of a clinometer in the field and recorded the trend of dykes, joints and attitude of beds. Contributor: Bevelio Goes 

Picture Credits: Ajay Terdalkar The students of S.Y.B.Sc accompanied by Assistant Professor Magnolia Miranda visited the Salaulim Dam on 11 th October 2017. At the dam site, the accompanying professor briefed the students on the history of the dam and different parts of the dam. The dam is an earth cum masonry structure with an associated spillway which is of a morning glory type. The construction of the dam started in 1976 and was completed in 2000, leading to the submergence of twenty villages. The project also led to the relocation of a temple belonging to the Kadamba period and a figure of Mother Goddess dated to 5th century BC. A beautiful botanical Garden is maintained as a part of the recreational activity. The students also visited the rock garden which had a display of the rocks found in that area. This visit provided the students a first-hand experience of the structure of a dam. Article contributed by Rizlen Quadros. 

Our country is rich in varied geological features and houses exotic geo heritage sites. Listed here are a few of our geological wonders.  1. Belum Caves, Andhra Pradesh These caves were first recorded by Robert Bruce Foote in 1884. It is the second largest cave in Indian subcontinent (3229 metres) and the longest caves in the plains of the Indian Subcontinent. It is f amous for its stalactite and stalagmite formations and have  lengthy passages, airy chambers, fresh water galleries and siphons.  2. Fossilized Dinosaur eggs, Gujarat Indroda Dinosaur and fossil park in Gandhinagar Gujrat houses    the second largest hatchery of dinosaur eggs in the world.  The eggs showcased in the park are of various sizes, ranging from duck eggs to cannon balls.  The eggs tell you that about 65 million years ago, the park could have been the hangout of the dinosaurs. 3. Columnar Basalts, Karnataka These columnar basalts are found on an island c...

The Geological Society of Goa (GSG) organised a function on 28 th January 2018 for the release of the book titled “Geology and Mineral Resources of Goa” authored by Prof. Ashoka G. Dessai, Former Head of Earth Science Department, Goa University at the hands of Prof. Sunil Kumar Singh, Director, CSIR – NIO. The event witnessed presence of several distinguished professionals from various fields of Geology including Founder president of GSG, Shri Anil Nadkarni, Shri. F. B. Antao, Dr. K Mahender, Dr. T. Viswanath, Shri. R. P. Gurav. The Chief Guest, Prof. Sunil Kumar Singh expressed his profound satisfaction on the release of a comprehensive book on Geology of Goa. He also emphasized on the requirement of the book to the students of Geology and the geology fraternity in Goa. He urged the gathering that it’s time to seek other sources of Mineral resources rather than the traditional ones, including the laterites, ocean basins, etc. After the formal release of the book, Dr. Anth...

On 31 st   January 2018 , a rare phenomenon occurred; wherein three astronomical events - a lunar eclipse, a blue moon and a supermoon were witnessed  at one instance. This triple line up of events was last observed on December 30, 1982. This eclipse was best visible in the western half of US and Canada. Australia got the first glimpse of the full event, as it spread across the world. Much of Asia also got to observe – though the UK, Europe and Africa missed out on seeing the blood moon, or lunar eclipse . In Goa, the lunar eclipse was observed around 6:30 pm. The lunar eclipse : This happens whenever the Earth passes directly between the Sun and the Moon, and the Moon falls into our planet’s shadow, or umbra. The Moon doesn’t go completely dark, though: the Sun’s light still manages to shine onto the lunar surface, but it  appears mostly reddish-orange, due to a phenomenon known as “scattering of light”. Whenever the sunlight passes through the Earth’s atmosph...

Mr. Santosh Ghadi, along with Asst. Prof. Akshay Kelkar and geology students of semester six.  Our alumnus, Mr Santosh Ghadi (2004-2007 batch) is an Associate Manager at Vedanta Limited. He is currently incharge of the mine planning for North Goa division. He addressed our semester six geology students and gave them an insight in ‘careers in the mining field’. He also shared his experiences with them and motivated them to work hard to achieve their goals. Contributor: Saili Vernekar

Ms Shilpa Khandolkar is a ‘Geoscientist at the Geological Survey Of India’. She graduated from Dhempe College of Arts & Science in 2008 and obtained a masters degree from Goa University in 2010. She subsequently joined the teaching profession and worked at Dhempe College of Arts & Science and later at Parvatibai Chowgule of Arts & Science. In December 2013, she joined the training office as a Trainee Geologist.After completing eleven months at various training Institutes all over India, she was  posted at Kolkata in 2014. She spent two years in Geochemical Mapping in the State of Orissa and is currently working for Geoinformatics. Interviewer : How was your experience in Chowgule and Dempo, when as lecturer? Interviewee: Enjoyed teaching, loved Chowgule, good environment and cooperative staff. . Interviewer : Do you miss your job? Interviewee: Yes a lot Interviewer : How was the department during your time? Interviewee: Very nice, I still...

Nebula 2011 , Getting down to earth!  It was an idea which we as B.sc Students had during our final days of Second Year.  An idea, wherein we could unite students through a medium not entirely cultural but educational as well keeping in mind the subject of Geology, this idea faded away initially as time was not of the essence and time was what we actually needed to get our act together and actually pull off the event! The change in tide came when we as T.Y.B.Sc students realized that this can be very well accomplished considering the enormous support we had from the department. That very moment, we as a group of students, rushed to the professors and discussed the event details at length. The response we received was positive however, the challenge of executing the event was all in our hands. Pragat Naik and Ramesh Jaggal joined along in the plan of execution and the very initial challenge was funding as the idea would remain a distant thought had the funding not co...

  Reliance Foundation Youth Sports organized an intercollegiate football tournament in Goa. Mr. Reaston Cardozo was awarded the Golden Glove Award for the best Goal keeper of the tournament

Shashank M Upadhye, a student of Semester VI participated in National Level Solo Table Competition organized by Directorate of Art and culture. 

Three of our students of Semester IV, Annelly Costa, Assif Ferrao and Travis Dcosta carried out  their internship at National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Headland Sada, Vasco-da-Gama, Goa, India. They were guided by Dr. Mahesh B. S.  who is a Research Scientist B at the organization. The students studied lacustrine sediment cores from three different lakes of Broknes Peninsula, East Antartica. They carried out sub-sampling of the cores using various equipments and studied their detailed lithology. Based on their findings, they inferred the palaeoclimate. It was an informative experience where they also interacted many scientists working on various research projects. Contributor: Annelly Costa

Agnelo Peixoto, a student of second semester won silver at West One Athletics Championship, 2017 in Nagpur. He also participated in Junior Nationals Athletics Championship in Andra Pradesh. He won two Gold medals at Inter Collegiate Athletics Championship 2018 and also broke the state Triple Jump record.

The Department of Geology organized a two day GIS workshop entitled “Learn to create your first map”. The workshop was held on 23 rd and 24 th of January 2018. The workshop was conducted by Assistant Professor Malcolm Afonso. Students of S.Y.Bsc and T.Y.Bsc from the Department of Geology participated in the workshop. The workshop was designed with a focus on imparting basic knowledge of GIS using two of the major open source GIS platforms which are QGIS and Google Earth Pro. Students were taught to digitize and prepare their own maps using data from a variety of sources including, Toposheets, GPS Surveys, Google Maps, Bhuvan portal etc. Contributor : Rizlen Quadros