Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

University centre to spot oil sites

DOT ON: The provinces where the university would conduct research for oil exploration.

TIRUCHI: Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB) has sanctioned a grant of Rs. 5 crore to the Centre for Advanced Studies in Remote Sensing, Bharathidasan University, for evolving concepts to identify oil locales in three major geological provinces in the country.

The Centre will undertake the project at Cuddapah Basin, Deccan Syneclise and Indo-Gangetic Plain, involving GIS (Geographical Information System)-based three dimensional visualisation of deep seated geological structures which normally act as favourable locales for oil. Centre Director S. M. Ramasamy and Senior Faculty C.J. Kumanan evolved the project proposal.

GIS visualisation of multi-level faults/cracks which could act as conduits; mapping of surface expressions of these faults using Shuttle Radar Remote Sensing photographs; identification of active/open/breathing cracks which have connections to the deeper structures using high resolution satellite remote sensing data; and detection of zones of possible degasification using fast emerging technology of hyper spectral remote sensing are the methodologies the Centre would adopt for the project.

The quantum of funding, the highest so far for a project of university department, in the country, is by virtue of the Centre’s achievements in carrying out need-based researches based on Remote Sensing, GIS and GPS (Global Positioning System) applications, Vice-Chancellor M. Ponnavaikko said on Thursday.

The infrastructure created for the project will serve in future as a national facility for hydrocarbon research, providing technical solutions to the oil industry in the country, he said.

Ideas would be evolved during the course of the project to undertake separate studies on the actual reason for earthquake against the backdrop of the disagreement among the scientific community on tectonic movement as the cause.

Research activities of the Centre outside Tamil Nadu are already in progress in the Tirumala Hills for a project on landslide mitigation and management, and in the southern parts of Maharashtra for water source mapping based on remote sensing applications, Dr. Ramasamy said, hoping to extend the project on oil search to other parts of the country as well.

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