Ph.D : 2016, Geophysics (Seismology), CSIR-NGRI, Hyderabad@AcSIR, New Delhi, India.

Thesis : Seismic Structure of the Lowermost Mantle beneath the Indian Ocean Geoid Low.

M.Sc : 2011, Geophysics, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India.

B.Sc : 2009, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India.

My focused research areas are global and observational seismology, which encompass solid earth research, investigation of structure in the depth range of the lowermost mantle to crust, mantle dynamics through seismic anisotropy, high-resolution imaging of Earth’s discontinuities, development of new software/codes and AI/ML to explore the Earth’s interior, and deciphering their bearing on the evolution, tectonics, and geodynamics of distinct geological terrains, models to explain geoid anomalies.

• Seismic Structure of the lowermost mantle (D’’ layer) and mid-to-upper mantle
• Imaging of Seismic Anisotropy (Upper and Lowermost Mantle Dynamics and Defor-mation)
• Structure, Deformation and Evolution of the Crust and Lithosphere
• Receiver Functions
• Ambient Noise and Surface Wave Tomography
• Forward and Inversion Modelling
• Development of software/codes/programs to decipher the sub-surface structure and anisotropy
• AI/ML in Seismology

• 2023 (July) - Present Scientist D, National Centre for Earth Science Studies.
• 2019 (July) - 2023 (June) Scientist C, National Centre for Earth Science Studies.
• 2016 (June) - 2019 (June) Scientist B, National Centre for Earth Science Studies.
• 2015 (April) - 2016 (June) Inspire Fellow (DST-SRF), CSIR-NGRI, Hyderabad, India.
• 2013 (Jan) - 2015 (April) Inspire Fellow (DST-JRF), CSIR-NGRI, Hyderabad, India.
• 2012 (March) - 2012 (Dec) Project Associate, CSIR-NGRI, Hyderabad, India.

1. DST-International Travel Support (ITS), MoES travel grant for EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria.
2. MoES travel grant for AGU Fall Meeting 2022, Chicago, IL, USA.
3. Certificate & Memento, Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica: 39th (2019-20) and 41st (2021-22) - Established the permanent seismological observatory at Larsemann Hills, Antarctica.
4. Actively involved as a seismology expert in the IOGL cruise for the deployment and recovery of 17 Ocean Bottom Seismometers in the region of the Indian Ocean Geoid Low.
5. Best Paper Award (Earth & Planetary Sciences), 31st Kerala Science Congress 2019, Kol-lam, India.
6. MoES travel grant for AGU Fall Meeting 2018, Washington, D.C., USA.
7. MoES travel grant for IAG-IASPEI Conference 2017, Kobe, Japan.
8. Figure published on the cover page of the prestigious journal of the American Geophysical Union “Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems”. (Rao et al., 2017, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2017).
9. Qualified UPSC's Combined Geo-Scientist and Geologist Examination, 2014.
10. GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) qualified in, 2012, 2013 and 2015.
11. University Topper & 1st Rank Certificate in M.Sc. Geophysics (2011).
12. Prof. Jagdeo Singh Memorial Grant, IGU, India (2010).
13. First Rank and Merit Certificate, B.Sc. (2006-2009).

• Member, American Geophysical Union (AGU)
• Member, European Geosciences Union (EGU)
• Life Member, Ocean Society of India (OCI)
• Member, Indian Geophysical Union (IGU)
• Member, Association of Exploration Geophysicists (AEG)
• Member, Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) (2009-2011))
• Member, Society of Petroleum Geophysicists (SPG) (2009-2011)

• 0000-0003-0864-9472

• 547481

1. Principal Investigator (PI) - Geodynamic evolution of Western Ghats & Deep Lithospheric and Asthenospheric structures across shear zones.
2. Principal Investigator (PI) - Insights into the Indian Ocean Geoid Low: Geodynamic exploration.
3. Principal Investigator (PI) - Broadband Seismological Observatory – Data Acquisition, Maintenance: Insights into seismic structure and deformation beneath the Princess Elizabeth Land (PEL).

1. Co-PI - Architecture and Dynamics of Magma Reservoir in Deccan Volcanic Province: Seismological-Geochemical synthesis

1. C. Sribin, Padma Rao, B*., Sunil Rohilla, Krishna Jha (2024). Crustal structure beneath the Western Dharwar Craton segment of Western Ghats: Insights from ambient noise correlation technique, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 272, 106240.
2. Padma Rao, B*. and Silpa, S. (2023). A review of geophysical research: Perspective into the Indian Ocean Geoid Low, Earth-Science Reviews, 104309.
3. Roy, A., Sharma, R. K., Jash, D., Padma Rao, B., Dev, J. A., & Tomson, J. K. (2024). Imaging of Moho Topography with Conditional Generative Adversarial Network from Ob-served Gravity Anomalies. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 106093.
4. Padma Rao, B*. (2023). Imaging of crustal structure beneath the Larsemann Hills, Ant-arctica using scattered wave technique – First Results, Polar Science,100980.
5. Padma Rao, B*.,Krishna Jha, Suresh Kumar, T. (2023). A broadband seismological ob-servatory at Larsemann Hills, Antarctica: Noise Characteristics and data quality, Polar Science, 100970.
6. Krishna, J., Padma Rao, B*.,Sribin, C. and Silpa, S. (2023). Analysis of seismic noise of broadband seismological stations installed along the Western Ghats, Journal of Seis-mology, 27(2), 325-342.
7. Roy, A., Muthyala Prasad, Padma Rao, B., Tomson, J. K. (2023). Estimation of Moho depth beneath Southern Indian Shield by inverting gravity anomalies constrained by seismic data, Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth, 128(3), e2022JB025651.
8. Nilanjana Sorcar, Amal Dev J., Sneha Mukherjee, Kumar Batuk Joshi, Padma Rao, B. (2023). Metamorphic evolution of granulites from Grovnes peninsula of Larsemann Hills, East Antarctica: Constraints from phase equilibrium modeling and geochronology, Polar Science, 100982.
9. Padma Rao, B*., and Ravi Kumar, M. (2022). Evolution of the Western Ghats: Con-straints from Receiver Function Imaging and Harmonic Decomposition, Tectonophysics, 838, 229472.
10. Padma Rao, B*. and Ravi Kumar, M. (2022), Lowermost mantle (D’’ layer) structure be-neath the Indian Ocean: Insights from modeling of ScS-S and PcP-P residuals, J. Asian Earth Sci., 225, 105038.
11. Ravi Kumar, M., Padma Rao, B., Mahesh, P. and Venkatesh, V. (2022). Scattered wave imaging of the Main Himalayan Thrust and mid-crustal ramp beneath the Arunachal Hi-malaya and its relation to seismicity, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 236, 1055335.
12. Sribin, C., Padma Rao, B*., Ravi Kumar, M. and Tomson, J. K. (2021), Mantle deforma-tion along the Western Ghats: Insights from core-refracted shear wave splitting analysis, J. Asian Earth Sci., 218, 104848.
13. Padma Rao, B*., Ravi Kumar, M., and Dipankar Saikia (2020), Seismic evidence for a hot Mantle Transition Zone beneath the Indian Ocean Geoid Low. Geochem. Geophys. Geosys, 21, e2020GC009079.
14. Mayank Joshi, P. R. Prasobh, Rajappan, Padma Rao, B., Alka Gond, Anshuman Misra, K. Eldhose, V. Nandakumar, J. K. Tomson (2021), Detection of soil pipes through remote sensing and electrical resistivity method: Insight from southern Western Ghats, India. Quaternary International, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.08.021.
15. Mayank Joshi, Alka Gond, Rajan P.P., Rajappan, S., Padma Rao, B., V. Nandakumar (2021), Significance and limit of electrical resistivity survey for detection sub surface cavity: a case study from, Southern Western Ghats, India. Elsevier book entitled "Basics of Computational Geophysics’’, Pijush Samui, Barnali Dixon Dieu, Tien Bui, ISBN: 9780128205136.
16. Padma Rao, B., Ravi Kumar, M., and Arun Singh (2017), Anisotropy in the lowermost mantle beneath the Indian Ocean Geoid Low from ScS splitting measure-ments.Geochem. Geophys. Geosys. 18(2), 558-570.
17. Sushini, K., Ravi Kumar, M., Padma Rao, B., and Srijayanthi, G. (2016). Shallow surface shear velocity beneath the Godavari Rift using P wave seismograms of local earth-quakes. J. Ind. Geophys. Union. 20, 11-18.
18. Padma Rao, B. and Ravi Kumar, M. (2014). Seismic evidence for slab graveyards atop the Core Mantle Boundary beneath the Indian Ocean Geoid Low. Phys. Earth Planet. Int. 236,52-59.

1. Mayank Joshi, Alka Gond, Rajan P.P., Rajappan, S., Padma Rao, B., V. Nandakumar (2021), Significance and limit of electrical resistivity survey for detection sub surface cavity: a case study from, Southern Western Ghats, India. Elsevier book entitled "Basics of Computational Geophysics’’, Pijush Samui, Barnali Dixon Dieu, Tien Bui, ISBN: 9780128205136.

1. Padma Rao, B. (2024). Inference of a plume conduit in and around the LaRéunion Island from 3D Migration of Ps conversions from the Mantle Transition Zone (No. EGU24-5520). EGU, General Assembly, Vienna, Austria.
2. Padma Rao, B. (2024). Broadband seismological observatory - Data acquisition, Mainte-nance: Insights into seismic structure and deformation beneath the Princess Elizabeth Land (PEL). National Workshop to evaluate the scientific proposal for the 44th ISEA, NCPOR, Goa.
3. Padma Rao, B., Krishna Jha, Suresh Kumar, T. (2023). Broadband seismological obser-vatory – Analysis of noise characteristics and crustal structure beneath the Larsemann Hills, Antarctica. National Conference for Polar Sciences (NCPS) 2023, NCPOR, Goa.
4. Padma Rao, B.,Sribin, C., Krishna, Jha. And Ravi Kumar, M. (2023). Evolution of the Western Ghats: Constraints from receiver function imaging, harmonic decomposition and core-refracted shear wave splitting analysis, National workshop on Geodynamic evolution of South India-Eastern Ghats-Antarctica: Current perspectives and future prospects 2023, NCESS, Thiruvananthapuram.
5. Arka Roy and Padma Rao, B. (2023). Gravity inversion with seismic constraints to map the crustal thickness beneath Antarctica. National Conference for Polar Sciences (NCPS) 2023, NCPOR, Goa.
6. Padma Rao, B. (2024). Unearthing Secrets: The Power of Seismology in Subsurface Ex-ploration. Invited Talk, Present day Advancements in Geoscience (PAGe) – 2024, CUSAT, Cochin.
7. Sundaran, S., Padma Rao, B., and Maurya, S.: Crustal and Uppermost Mantle Structure beneath the Indian Ocean Geoid Low using Surface Wave Tomography, EGU General As-sembly 2023, EGU23-11063, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-11063, 2023.
8. Padma Rao, B. and Ravi Kumar, M. Is the lowermost mantle (D″ layer) anisotropy ubiqui-tous?. AGU Fall Meeting 2022, Chicago, IL, USA.
9. Padma Rao, B. and Ravi Kumar, M. Evolution of the Western Ghats: Constraints from re-ceiver function imaging and Harmonic decomposition. IAGA-IASPEI 2021, pp. 22.
10. Sribin, C., Padma Rao, B., Ravi Kumar, M. and Tomson, J. K. Mantle deformation along the Western Ghats: Insights from core-refracted shear wave splitting analysis. IAGA-IASPEI 2021, pp. 3.
11. Silpa, S., Padma Rao, B.,Purnachandra Rao, N. A review of geophysical research: In-sights into Indian Ocean Geoid Low. GAGE/SAGE 2021 (NSF, NASA).
12. Padma Rao, B. (2020), A Matlab code to decipher the lowermost mantle (D″ layer) Anisot-ropy, AGU Fall Meeting 2020.
13. Sribin, C., Padma Rao, B., Tomson, J. K. (2020), Mantle deformation beneath the south-ern part of Western Ghats, AGU Fall Meeting 2020.
14. Nilanjana, S., Padma Rao, B., Kumar Batuk, J., Nandakumar, V. and Tomson, J. K. (2020), Constraining geodynamic evolution of Princes Elezabeth Land (PEL), East Antarc-tica using geological and geophysical approaches, International Conference on Antarctic Research (ICAR) – 2020, Antarctica.
15. Suresh, T., Padma Rao B. (2020), Seismic characteristics of ambiguous shear zones of Southern Granulite Terrain using differential travel time residuals, Proceedings of the 6th Shear Zones and Crustal Blocks of Southern India conference, Vol. 6, 17, ISBN 978-81-937053-2-2.
16. Padma Rao, B., Ravi Kumar, M., Purnachandra Rao, N., and Nandakumar, V. (2019), Crustal Structure Across and Along the Western Ghats: Insights From Ps Converted Phases, Kerala Science Congress 2019, Kollam, India.
17. Silpa, S., Padma Rao B., Purnachandra Rao, N. (2019), Lithospheric structure beneath the Indian Ocean Geoid Low: Insight from surface wave dispersion curves, International Conference on Frontiers in Marine Science Challenges and Prospects – MARICON-2019.
18. Padma Rao, B., and Ravi Kumar, M. (2018), Anisotropy in the lowermost mantle beneath the Indian Ocean Geoid Low: Insights from ScS splitting measurements, AGU Fall Meeting 2018, Washington D.C., USA.
19. Padma Rao, B., and Ravi Kumar, M. (2017), Shear Wave Velocity Structure and Anisot-ropy atop the Core Mantle Boundary Beneath the Indian Ocean Geoid Low, IAG-IASPEI 2017, Kpbe, Japan.
20. Padma Rao, B. (2017), Geophysical Techniques: Soil Pipe Identification, Case Study: Soil piping in Kolari Village, Iritty Taluka, Kannur, National Workshop & Field Training on Land disturbances due to soil piping in the Western Ghats 2017 (ESSO-NCESS, MoES), Thiru-vananthapuram, India.
21. Mayank Joshi, Padma Rao, B., Prasobh P Rajan, Eldose, Rajappan, S. and Alka Gond (2017), Soil piping in Kolari Village, Iritty Taluka, Kannur, National Workshop & Field Train-ing on Land disturbances due to soil piping in the Western Ghats 2017 (ESSO-NCESS, MoES), Thiruvananthapuram, India.
22. Padma Rao, B. and Ravi Kumar, M. (2015), Seismic structure of the lower mantle beneath the Indian Ocean Geoid Low, IGU 2015, NCAOR, Goa, India.
23. Padma Rao, B. and Ravi Kumar, M. (2015), Lowermost mantle anisotropy beneath the In-dian Ocean Geoid Low from S corrected ScS splitting measurements, 51st Research Council 2015 (CSIR-NGRI), Hyderabad, India.
24. Padma Rao, B. (2013), Anomalous seismic structure atop the Core Mantle Boundary be-neath the Indian Ocean Geoid Low, 49th Research Council 2013 (CSIR-NGRI), Hyderabad, India.
25. Padma Rao, B. (2013), Nature of shear velocity anomalies atop the CMB beneath the In-dian Ocean Geoid Low, 48th Research Council 2013 (CSIR-NGRI), Hyderabad, India.

1. Unearthing Secrets: The Power of Seismology in Subsurface Exploration. Present Day Ad-vancements in Geoscience (PAGe-2024), CUSAT
2. Seismic Structure and Seismicity of Indian sub-continent: Insights on Western Ghats and Kerala region. Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030)
3. Insights into Indian Ocean Geoid Low: A seismological Perspective. Department of Earth and Climate Science, IISER Pune
4. Insights into Indian Ocean Geoid Low: A seismological Perspective. Brainstorming meeting on Understanding the synergies between oceanography and geodesy, INCOIS, Hyderabad
5. Seismological Observatory at Bharati Station. Decade of Bharati Station (2012-2022), Indian Antarctica Programme, NCPOR

1. Mr. Sribin C, PhD Title: Seismological insights on the geodynamic history of the Western Ghats from shallow crustal structure and upper mantle anisotropy (Submitted), 2024