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AU Asst Prof set to be part of the Antarctica mission

Arora will undertake the study of mountain rocks in the area as part of her research 'Insights into the geological framework

PGurus Newsdesk

December 19, 2022

Arora will undertake the study of mountain rocks in the area as part of her research 'Insights into the geological framework

AU researcher Devsamridhi Arora sets date with Antarctica as part of 42nd ISEA

An assistant professor of Allahabad University (AU), Devsamridhi Arora, has been selected to be a part of an Antarctica expedition. She will stay in Antarctica from December 2022 to April 2023 and study the rocks found on the continent.

Arora is a member of the ongoing 42nd Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (ISEA). She joined AU’s National Centre of Experimental Mineralogy and Petrology (NCEMP), in April this year.

Arora said, “This is a part of the first major India-led multinational geoscientific program named ‘Geological Exploration in and around Amery Ice-Shelf (GeoEAIS)’ which is executed under the umbrella of the Indian Antarctic Programme.”

During her stay, she would undertake a study of the mountain rocks of the area as part of her research ‘Insights into the geological framework and tectonic-thermal evolution of the Princess Elizabeth Land Amery Ice Shelf sector, East Antarctica’, the proposal for which she had submitted to National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).

The expedition comprising 35 members was launched from Goa on October 22. The team will set off for Cape Town on December 24 and would undergo five days of quarantine at Cape Town before beginning their voyage to Antarctica.

This will be Devsamridhi’s second visit to the frozen continent. Her first visit to Antarctica was during 35th ISEA in 2015-16 when she was a Ph.D. student in the department of geology, University of Delhi. At the time, she had carried out fieldwork in coastal regions of Princess Elizabeth Land (PEL) of East Antarctica.

“After seven years, I am planning to carry out fieldwork in inland regions of PEL and nunataks of Amery Ice Shelf (AIS),” she said.

Devsamridhi said that her visiting this frozen continent is driven by the scientific aim of exploring the sub-ice geology of the PEL-AIS sector of East Antarctica by investigating the exposed Nunataks (summit or ridge of a mountain that protrudes from an ice field or glacier that otherwise covers most of the mountain) and connecting their geology with regional aero-geophysical data.

Talking about the life of researchers in Antarctica, she says, “Fieldwork in Antarctica is bizarre in a sense that we get to travel by helicopters, work in the super windy and extremely cold environment, and make entries in field diaries with numb hands.”

[With Inputs from IANS]

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