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Portrait of Souradeep Mahato

Souradeep Mahato

MoES-DOM Post-Doctoral Fellow · National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Goa

Hello & welcome!

I am Souradeep Mahato, a MoES-DOM Post-Doctoral Fellow at the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) in Goa, India. My research investigates the tectonic and deformational processes: spanning map, outcrop, and sample scales, that shape the young oceanic lithosphere, specifically within magma-starved mid-ocean ridge environments.

Currently, I utilize geological and geophysical data to characterize hydrothermal vent fields, fluid pathways, and the evolution of large-scale detachment faults along the eastern Southwest Indian and southern Central Indian Ridges. I am particularly interested in the carbonation of ultramafic rocks and the geochemical evolution of serpentinization-based hydrothermal systems, such as the newly discovered Old City field. My work broadly integrates geophysical data and underwater observational structural geology with high-resolution analytical techniques to investigate the evolution of the oceanic lithosphere along mid-ocean ridge systems.

This website is a curated collection of my publications, conference abstracts, current and past research activities.
Thank you for visiting.

Education

  • 2023: PhD in Earth & Environmental Science (Marine Geology)
    Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Université Paris Cité, France

  • 2019: Master of Technology in Exploration Geosciences
    Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, India

  • 2017: Master of Science in Geology
    Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, India

Recent Update

Research Focus

Locally at the slow (<4 cm. yr-1) and ultra slow-spreading (<2 cm. yr-1) mid-oceanic ridges (MOR), axial valley bounding walls develop corrugated surfaces. These surfaces are formed by large offset (between 9-30 km) normal faults, called detachment faults. These faults exhume mantle-derived rocks (peridotite, serpentinized peridotite, gabbro) to the seafloor.

Conceptual model of a detachment fault

My research focuses on the structure, lithology, and strain localization at active detachment fault by using HR bathymetry, submersible dive videos, and rock samples to understand better the tectonic, deformation and fluid-rock interaction processes associated with the formation and evolution of the young oceanic lithosphere in context of magma starved ultraslow seafloor spreading.

Mid-Oceanic Ridges Detachment Faults Tectonics Marine Geology Fault Rock Microstructure Bathymetry

View of the SWIR 64°E Ridge Area

Publications & Outputs

Ongoing Work

In review

Mahato, S., Cannat, M., Martinez, I.: Strain Localization in the Brittle Domain During Nearly Amagmatic Flip-Flop Detachment Faulting at the Southwest Indian Ridge, Under Revision @Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.

In prep.

Cannat, M., Mahato, S., Martinez, I., Früh-Green, G., Bernasconi, S., Agrinier, P., Bickert, M., Vitale Brovarone, A. Brunelli, D., Hamelin, C., Lecoeuvre, A., Lie Onstad, S., Maia, M., Prampolini, M., Rouméjon, S., Fontaine, F.J.: The Old City Serpentinization-based Hydrothermal Field, Southwest Indian Ridge, to be submitted to Nature Geoscience, in prep.

In prep.

Tominaga, M., Cannat, M., Mahato, S., and Maia, M.: High-resolution near-bottom magnetic characterization of ultramafic seafloor at ultra-slow spreading 64.5 E, Southwest Indian Ridge, to be submitted to Journal of Geophysical Research (JGR) , in prep.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

2025

5Marjanović, M., Besançon, S., Mahato, S., Hautemayou, D., & Luc, T. (2025) How do we make a scan of Earth’s oceanic crust?. Geoscience Communication., 9, 21–33, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4799

2025

4Mahato, S., & Cannat, M. (2025). Footwall geology and deformation at flip-flop mid-ocean ridge detachment faults: 64°35’E Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR). Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 25, e2023GC011384.https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GC011769

2020

3Sequeira, N., Mahato, S., Rahl, J.M., Sarkar, S., and Bhattacharya, A., (2020). The anatomy and origin of a synconvergent Grenvillian-age metamorphic core complex, Chottanagpur Gneiss Complex, eastern India. Lithosphere, 2020(1).https://doi.org/10.2113/2020/8833404

2019

2Mahato, S., Mukherjee, S., Bose, N. (2019). Documentation of brittle structures (back shear and arcparallel shear) from Sategal and Dhanaulti regions of the Garhwal Lesser Himalaya (Uttarakhand, India). In Tectonics and Structural Geology: Indian Context. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99341-6_15

2019

1Babar, M.D., Kaplay, R.D., Mukherjee, S., Mahato, S., and Gurav, C, (2019). NE-SW strike-slip fault in the granitoid from the margin of the Southeast Dharwar Craton, Degloor, Nanded district, Maharashtra, India. In Tectonics and Structural Geology: Indian Context. (pp. 115–134)https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99341-6_5

Conference Abstracts

2026

Talk MC Cannat, M., Antoine, D., Mahato, S., and Olive, J A., (2026). Rheology of mid-ocean ridge flip-flop detachment fault systems: numerical models and field observations., EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-11951.https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-11951.

2025

Talk MM Marjanovic, M., Besançon, S., Hautemayou, D., Mahato, S., and Luc, T. (2025). How do we make an X-ray scan of Earth’s oceanic crust?, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-6769.https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-6769

2024

Poster SM Mahato, S. & Cannat, M. (2024). More magmatic versus less magmatic oceanic detachment fault zone anatomy, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-17664.https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-17664

2023

Talk SM Mahato, S. & Cannat, M. (2023). Anatomy of a detachment fault damage zone at a nearly amagmatic mid-ocean ridge: observations from outcrop to map scale, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 April 2023, EGU22-5911, EGU23-6200.https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU23/EGU23-6200.

2022

Talk SM Mahato, S. & Cannat, M. (2022). Early stages of evolution of an axial detachment fault at the ultraslow spreading mid-ocean ridge (64°40’E SWIR), EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5911.https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5911

2021

Poster SM Mahato, S. & Cannat, M. (2021). Strain localization during detachment faulting: evidence from the Southwest Indian Ridge. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, (Vol. 2021, pp. V35A-0124).https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm21/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/853743

2021

Talk MCCannat, M., Mahato, S., Martinez, I., Frueh-Green, G.L., Bernasconi, S.M., Lecoeuvre, A., Brovarone, A.V., Brunelli, D., Fontaine, F.J., Prampolini, M., Agrinier, P., Bickert, M., Hamelin, C., Onstad, L., Maia, M., and Rouméjon, S. (2021). Carbonate-Brucite Chimneys At The Southwest Indian Ridge: The Old City Hydrothermal Field. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts , (Vol. 2021, pp. V33A-09).https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm21/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/928535

2020

Poster SM Mahato, S. & Cannat, M. (2020). A window into magma-starved upper oceanic lithosphere: Structure and geomorphology of a young active mid-ocean ridge detachment fault footwall at the Southwest Indian Ridge. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, (Vol. 2020, pp. T026-0012).https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm20/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/680054

Published Datasets

2026

Mahato, S., & Cannat, M. (2024a). Statistical log-normal (physically truncated) fit, power-law tail fit, and combined CCDF visualization: A Python Code [Computer software]. Zenodo.https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13684671

2026

Mahato, S., Cannat, M., & Martinez, I. (2024b). Raman spectra analysis for Serpentine: a MATLAB tool & data [Dataset]. Zenodo.https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13646304

2024

Cannat M., Prampolini M., Mahato, S., Boutbien, M. (2024). Processed shipboard bathymetry and high resolution bathymetry acquired during the ROVSMOOTH, 2016-2017 cruise of RV Pourquoi Pas?. SEANOE.https://doi.org/10.17882/103743

2021

Cannat M., Wheeler B., Mahato, S., Sarradin, P.-M., Matabos, M., Sarrazin, J. (2021). Autonomous temperature probes data from the EMSO-Azores observatory, 2020–2021. SEANOE.https://doi.org/10.17882/80940

2021

Cannat M., Matabos M., Van Audenhaege L., Gayet, N., Wheeler, B., Mahato, S., Sarradin, P.-M., Sarrazin,. J., Legrand, J. (2021). Array of Ocean Bottom Tilt Current Meters: data from the EMSO-Azores observatory, 2019–2021. SEANOE.https://doi.org/10.17882/76001

Contact Information

Address

National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR),
Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India,
Headland Sada, Vasco-da-Gama, Goa 403 804, India

URL

NCPOR profile — Souradeep Mahato

Email

souradeep(at)ncpor.res.in

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