I have worked on reconstruction of early life and palaeoenvironment and probing mass extinction event using organic geochemical techniques. Our work on a Gondwana Permian Triassic section showed the massive deforestation of coal-forming vegetation and a sharp decline in the vascular plant biodiversity during the transition from late Permian to Early Triassic and a forced restructuring of the wetland ecosystem at the beginning of Triassic. I am interested in a variety of topics in the Recent time scale (Holocene) and have applied organic geochemical techniques for palaeoclimatic studies such as understanding the altering dynamics of the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM). Further, I am also using organic geochemical techniques for the study of environmental pollutants such as plastic-derived phthalates and polyaromatic hydrocarbons.
Principal Investigator
Sharmila Bhattacharya
Lecturer (On Contract)