I am Dr. V. Purnachandra Rao, born on Tenth October Nineteen hundred and Fifty Five. in Andhra Pradesh, India. I have received my M.Sc. (Marine Science, Marine Geology) and Ph. D. (Marine Geology) degrees from Andhra University, Waltair in the years 1980 and 1989, respectively.

Eversince I joined the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa in the year 1980, I am working on Sedimentology of the continental margins of India. I worked on Mineralogy and Provenance of the fine-grained sediments, Diagenetic textures of Sedimentary rock, Late Quaternary sea-levels and Neo-tectonic activity, Authigenic green clays and Phosphorites from the continental margins and from the Seamounts of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. I was a visiting scientist at the Department of Oceanography, Florida State University, USA in the year 1987 and a Post-doctoral Fellow for a period of one year at the Department of Geology, University of Rouen, France in the year 1991-1992.

I have published 35 research articles in the refereed scientfic journals (both National and International) and attended and presented papers in National and International meetings. I have been awarded UNESCO/ROSTSCA Young Scientist Award 1989, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Young Scientist Award 1990 and National Mineral Award 1994 for my scientific contribution to the Marine Geology.

At present I am working on controls on the formation on authigenic minerals and the sea-level changes during the Late Quaternary along the continental margins of India.

You may contact me on e-mail: vprao@darya.nio.org.