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Dhananjai Kumar Pandey

Prof. Dhananjai Pandey
Dhananjai Kumar Pandey
Professor
Centre/School/Special Centre
School of Environmental Sciences
Room No
108B
Email
dhananjai[at]jnu[dot]ac[dot]in
Personal Webpage
https://jnu.ac.in
Qualifications

M.Sc. (Tech) – Geophysics - Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.

Ph.D. – Earth Sciences - University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (Cambridge Commonwealth Fellowship).

Post Doctoral Fellow – Geophysical Computing – National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, United Kingdom

Areas of Interest/Specialization

Marine Geosciences, Oceanography, Ocean Exploration, Extended Continental Shelf Claims, UNCLOS, Geodynamics, Seismology, Continental Margin Tectonics and Climate, Deep Sea Drilling.

Experience

2023 – Professor, School of Environmental Sciences, JNU, New Delhi

2023 Scientist-G,  National Centre for Polar & Ocean Research, Goa.

2018 Scientist-F, National Centre for Polar & Ocean Research, Goa.

2013 Scientist-E, National Centre for Polar & Ocean Research, Goa. 

2009 Scientist-D, National Centre for Polar & Ocean Research, Goa.

2003 Scientist-C, National Centre for Polar & Ocean Research, Goa.

1997 Project Fellow (DST), Department of Geophysics, Banaras Hindu University

Awards & Honours

CSI-Nihilent eGov Award for the Marine Geophysical database at Geoscience Lab, NCPOR

National Geoscience Award – by Ministry of Mines, India

Visiting Scientist, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton UK

Certificate of Merit for Outstanding Contribution by Ministry of Earth Sciences, India.

Lundgren Research Award by the Lundgren Trust (UK)

Overseas Research Studentship Award (Committee of Vice-Chancellors, UK)

Cambridge Commonwealth Fellowship, University of Cambridge, UK

Schlumberger Cambridge Research Award by Schlumberger Cambridge Research (UK)

Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE)-1997 Qualified

 

International Collaboration/Consultancy
  • Founding Program Leader of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP-India) 2009-2023.
  • First Indian to lead an international ocean drilling expedition (IODP) in Indian Ocean
  • Member (2013-17) Bilateral Maritime Negotiations with India’s Neighboring Nations
  • Member and Leader of India’s Extended Continental Shelf Program (2003-2020)
  • Indian scientific delegation member (2010, 2019 and 2020) in the United Nations for Indian Continental Shelf Program.
  • Extensive field experience in world oceans - more than 400 days at sea.
  • Led the largest ever marine geophysical data acquisition along Indian Continental Margins
  • Led deployments of more than 100 Ocean Bottom Seismometers along Indian Margins
  • Published more than 90 research articles in reputed international & national journals.
  • Edited 04 Special Volumes (Geological Magazine, Tectonophysics, Geo-marine Letters & Springer-SES Series)
  • Member, Science Evaluation Panel (International Ocean Discovery Program) – 2013-2020
  • Member JOIDES Resolution Facility Board and IODP-FORUM – 2020-2023
  • Group Leader of Indian Ocean Geoid Low Exploration Program (2013-2023)
  • Editorial Board Member – Journal of Geological Society of London (2021-),
  • Editorial Board Member – Himalayan Geology
  • Editorial Board Member – Geodesy and Geodynamics,
  • Review Editor - Frontiers in Earth Sciences,
  • Convened Several International and National Scientific Conferences/Workshops
  • Invited Speaker to several national and international workshops/conferences/symposia
Best Peer Reviewed Publications
  1. Chu et al., (Pandey, D.K.) 2023. Earthquake-enhanced dissolved carbon cycles in ultra-deep ocean sediments. Nature Communications. (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41116-w)  
  2. Pandey, D.K., Pandey, A. Whattam S. (2019). Relict subduction initiation along a passive continental margin in the northwest Indian Ocean. Nature Communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10227-8
  3. Pandey, D. K, Pandey Anju, Nair, N., Ramesh P., Clift P.D., Kulhanek DK and Yadav, R. Flexural subsidence of Laxmi basin and its tectonic implications. (2018), Geological Magazine. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756818000833
  4. Prerna, R and Pandey, D.K. (2018). Shades of grey over blue: A maritime delimitation dogma. Ocean and Coastal Management DOI:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2018.03.027 .
  5. Nair N. and Pandey, D.K. (2018). Cenozoic sedimentation in the Mumbai Offshore Basin: Implications for tectonic evolution of the western continental margin of India. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 152, 132-144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2017.11.037
  6. Pandey, D.K., Clift, P.D., Kulhanek, D.K., and the Expedition 355 Scientists, (2016). Arabian Sea Monsoon. Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program, 355: College Station, TX (International Ocean Discovery Program). http://dx.doi.org/​10.14379/​iodp.proc.355.2016
  7. Pandey, D.K. Nair, N., Pandey, A., Gullapalli, S. 2016. Basement tectonics and flexural subsidence of western continental margin, Geoscience Frontiers (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2016.10.006)
  8. Pandey A. and Pandey D.K., (2015). Mechanism of crustal extension in the Laxmi Basin, Arabian Sea, Geodesy and Geodynamics. Vol-6 (6), 409-422 http://dx.doi.org10.1016/j.geog.2015.12.006
Recent Peer Reviewed Journals/Books
  • Negi, S.S., Pandey, D.K., Ningthoujam, L.S., Kumar A., Nair N, Remya, P.G. and Gahalaut, VK. (2025) The dominance of coastal microseisms in the Indian Ocean. Earth and Planetary Sci Letters, 665, 119479. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2025.119479
  • Pandey, A and Pandey, D.K. (2025) Re-Os isotope systematics during the subduction initiation process in the Laxmi Basin, Arabian Sea. Regional Studies in Marine Sciences, 87, 104230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsma.2025.104230

  • Duraimaran P, Mani, D·, Pandey,  D. K., Krishna K. (2025) Oligocene and Late Miocene‐Pleistocene Elemental Records of Sedimentary Provenance, Basin Evolution, Chemical Weathering and Depositional Environment from the Northern South China Sea, Aquatic Geochemistry, 31(3) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10498-024-09437-4

  • Yadav, R., Pandey, D. K., Ningthoujam, L. (2025) Long-term sediment accumulation and intra-plate deformation in the Central Indian Ocean, Regional Studies in Marine Sciences, 81(103962) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsma.2024.103962
  • Duraimaran et al., (Pandey, D.K.), 2024. Biogeochemical evidence of the Oligocene and late Miocene–Pleistocene climatic variability from two deep sediment cores of the South China Sea. J. Earth. Sys. Sci. 133:166 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-024-02372-6678
  • Strasser. et al., (Pandey, D.K.). 2024. Japan Trench event stratigraphy: First results from IODP giant piston coring in a deep-sea trench to advance subduction zone paleoseismology. Marine Geology 477: 107387 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107387

  • Thena, T., Pandey, D.K., Singh, R.K., Nair, N., Roshni K. S. (2023). Benthic foraminiferal survival through the early Paleocene (Danian) greenhouse climate interval based on analysis of IODP Site U1457 (Laxmi Basin, Northern Indian Ocean). Evolving Earth. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eve.2023.100003

  • Biswas, S., Pandey, D. K., Nair, N. and Uddandam, P.R. (2023) Stable δ13C and δ15N isotope and palynofacies study of the Nicobar Fan sediments, Indian Ocean: Implication for organic matter source and depositional environment. Geo-Marine Letters (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-023-00755-0).

  • Yadav, R., Pandey, D.K., Ningthoujam, LS., Negi, S. S. (2023) Quantifying structural deformation history in the Central Indian Ocean. Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth (https://doi.org/10.1134/S106935132306023X ).

  • Alam, M., Muguli, T., Gurumurthy, G., Arif, M., Sohrin, Y., Singh, A.D, Radhakrishna, T, Pandey, D.K and Verma, K. (2023). Hydroclimatic conditions and sediment provenance in the northeastern Arabian Sea since the late Miocene: Insights from geochemical and environmental magnetic records at IODP Site U1457 of the Laxmi Basin. Geological Magazine, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756822001273

  • Pandey, D.K.  Ningthoujam, L.S., Yadav, R., Nair, N., S Negi, S.S., Kumar, A. and Khogenkumar, S. (2022) Seismic investigations around an aseismic Comorin ridge, Indian Ocean. J. Geological Society of London, https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2021-113.

  • Negi*, S.S., Kumar, A., Ningthoujam, L.S. and Pandey, D.K. (2022), Mapping the mantle transition zone beneath the Indian Ocean geoid low from Ps receiver functions. Tectonophysics, 831, 229330, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2022.229330

  • Khogenkumar S*., Nair, N.N. and, Pandey, D.K. (2022) Off sequence plume magmatism near Ninetyeast Ridge in the Indian Ocean: Evidence for extensive lateral flow of Kerguelen plume. J. Geological Society of London, https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2021-127.

  • Ningthoujam, L.S.*, Pandey, D.K., Nair, N., Yadav, R., Khogenkumar, S., S Negi, S.S., Kumar, A. (2022) Plume-ridge interactions in the Central Indian Ocean Basin: Insights from new wide-angle seismic and potential field modelling, Tectonophysics, 824, 229222, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2022.229222 .

  • Vats, N., Singh, RK, Das, M., Holbourn, A., Gupta, A., Gallagher, S. and Pandey, D.K. (2021) Linkages between East China Sea Deep-sea Oxygenation and Variability in the East Asian Summer Monsoon and Kuroshio Current over the last 400,000 years. Palaeogeography and, Palaeoclimatology https://doi.org/10.1029/2021PA004261

  • Nair, N., Pandey, D.K., Ramesh, P. and Pandey A. (2021) Seismic stratigraphy and the sedimentation history in the Laxmi Basin—constraints from IODP Expedition 355, Geoscience Frontiers, 12 (3), 101111, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2020.11.008.

  • Das, M., Singh, RK, Holbourn, A., Farooq, SH, Vats, N, and Pandey, D.K. (2021) Paleoceanographic evolution of the Japan Sea during the Pleistocene – A benthic foraminiferal perspective. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110238 

  • Negi*, S. S., A. Kumar, L. S. Ningthoujam, and D. K. Pandey (2020). An Efficient Approach of Data Adaptive Polarization Filter to Extract Teleseismic Phases from the Ocean-Bottom Seismograms, Seismological Res. Lett. XX, 1–15, https://doi.org/10.1785/0220200034

  • Pandey, D.K., Pandey, A. Whattam S. (2020). Reply to ‘Evidence for simple volcanic rifting not complex subduction initiation in the Laxmi Basin’ Nature Communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16570-5

  • Vats, N. Mishra, S., Singh, R.K, Gupta, A.K. and Pandey, D.K. (2020) Paleoceanographic changes in the East China Sea during the last ~400 kyr reconstructed using planktic foraminifera. Global Planetary Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2020.103173 

  • Pandey, D.K. Nair, N. and Ravichandran, M. (2020) Scientific drilling in the Indian Ocean: An Earth system process perspective. In - Dynamics of the Earth System: Evolution, Processes and Interactions (Eds – D K Pandey, Ravichandran, M & Nair, N). Springer Nature Pub, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40659-2_1.

  • Das, M. Nishant Vats, Raj K. Singh, Sibasish Mishra, S. Sova Barik, R. V. Divya, S. Sengupta, A. Ranjan and D. K. Pandey (2020). Assessing Mid-Pleistocene to Holocene Sea-Ice Extent and Carbonate Compensation Depth Fluctuations in the Japan Sea: A Multiproxy Approach. In - Dynamics of the Earth System: Evolution, Processes and Interactions (Eds – D K Pandey, Ravichandran, M & Nair, N). Springer Nature Pub, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40659-2_3.

  • Nagender Nath, B., V. Yatheesh, A. Kazip Yazing, Surabhi R. Prabhu, Avinash Borker, D. K. Pandey and K. A. Kamesh Raju. Late Quaternary Sedimentation and Slope Failure Events on the Costa Rican Margin (2020). In - Dynamics of the Earth System: Evolution, Processes and Interactions (Eds – D K Pandey, Ravichandran, M & Nair, N). Springer Nature Pub, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40659-2_9.

  • Ningthoujam*, LS and D. K. Pandey (2020). A Summary of South China Sea Expedition. In - Dynamics of the Earth System: Evolution, Processes and Interactions (Eds-D K Pandey, Ravichandran, M & Nair, N). Springer Nature Pub, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40659-2_11.

  • Pandey, D.K., Nair, N. and Kumar, Ajeet (2020) The western continental margin of India: Indian scientific contributions (2015-2018). Proc Ind. Nat. Sci Acad. 86(1) 331-341. https://doi.org/10.16943/ptinsa/2020/49789

  • Mungekar, TV, Naik, S., Nath, N and Pandey, D.K. (2020) Shell weights of foraminifera trace atmospheric CO2 from the Miocene to Pleistocene in the central Equatorial Indian Ocean. Journal of Earth System Science, 129 (1), 69, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-020-1348-6 .

  • Lu, Huayu…..Pandey D.K….. (2020) Phased Evolution and Variation of South Asian Monsoon, Weathering and Surface Erosion in Himalaya-Karakoram Mountains since late Pliocene from IODP Hole U1456A in Eastern Arabian Sea. Geological Magazine. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756820000291

  • Saraswat R.K.,..Pandey. D.K…..(2019). Inconsistent change in surface hydrography of the northeastern Arabian Sea during the last four glacial-interglacial intervals. Geological Magazine. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756819001122 

  • Dailey, S.K., Clift, P.D....Pandey, D.K.....(2019). Large-scale Mass Wasting on the Miocene Continental Margin of Western India. GSA Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1130/B35158.1

  • Kumar, A. Dutt, S. Saraswat R, Gupta A K, Clift, P.D., Pandey, D.K. Zhaojie Yu, Denise K. Kulhanek (2019) A late Pleistocene sedimentation in the Indus Fan, Arabian Sea, IODP Site U1457, Geological Magazine https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756819000396

  • Khim, B.K., Lee, J, Kim, J., Hal, S., Park, J.G, Pandey, D.K. Clift, P.D. Kulhanek, D.K. & IODP Expedition 355 scientists. (2019) δ13C values of sedimentary organic matter in the Indus Fan of the eastern Arabian Sea: Implications for a terrestrial catchment environment. Geological Magazine.  https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756818000870

 

 

Patents (if any)

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