This group has its genesis from the earlier R&D focus areas of the Institute on Computational Geodynamics under which we were engaged in simulation of the core and mantle dynamics, planetary magnetic field generation and thermomechanical processes in the lithosphere. Our present focus is to study the structure and tectonics of the coupled Himalaya and the foreland Ganga Basin system. For this purpose, we are mapping the lithospheric structure of the Ganga Basin and the NW Himalaya by magnetotellurics (MT), carrying out tectonic geomorphology of the Himalayan belt, and linking the Himalayan tectonics and the Ganga Basin lithospheric structure through flexural modeling and integration of available multi-geophysical datasets. Some significant recent results obtained by these studies are:

• A significant part of the Bundelkhand craton is buried also in the Ganga Basin north of its presently known imit. Together with the Faizabad Ridge, this craton covers an area of about 1,03,000 sq.km, 72% of which is concealed by the sediments of the Ganga Basin.
• The normalized river channel steepness index (ksn) for the entire Himalayan arc in conjunction with the width of the Ganga basin, and Bouguer gravity anomaly of the orogen reveals segmentation of the Indian plate into six distinct sectors beneath the Himalaya. Major offsets in the pockets of high ksn from the arc-parallel distribution are related to the transverse tectonic fabric of the Indian plate in the Ganga-Brahmaputra plains.
• A MT study in the western Ganga Basin across the inferred northward extension of the Aravalli – Delhi Fold Belt (ADFB) reveals that the concealed ADFB consists of a collage of nearly vertical conductive and resistive blocks buried beneath about 1 to 1.3 km thick alluvial sediments. These results, in conjunction with the MT models available for the Garhwal Himalaya, support continuation of these blocks beneath the Kumaun-Garhwal Himalaya implying a spatially highly heterogeneous crust for this region of the Himalaya.

In addition, we have also carried out MT studies across the Western Ghats and the Deccan Volcanic Province around Palghar area, and the Cambay basin. Our present endeavor is to study the crustal structure of eastern Ladakh and southern Bundelkhand craton and develop algorithms for modeling of EM datasets.