Conversation with Geologist Dr. Suvrat Kher

Geologist Dr. Suvrat Kher talks to Khula Aasmaan about geology, his interest in outdoors and geology and how these interests have shaped his career and journey so far. This video has been created by Khula Aasmaan for the community of children, students, parents and teachers.

Dr. Suvrat Kher is a sedimentary geologist. He did his PhD from Florida State University in the United States, specializing in limestones and sedimentary basin evolution. He also has work experience in GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and Remote Sensing. He resides in Pune, Maharashtra, and divides his time between consulting in geology and coaching football and rugby. Over the past 10 years he has pursued geology outreach via his science blog Rapid Uplift. His Twitter handle is @rapiduplift . He also takes geology excursions to the Western Ghats and the Himalayas.

Video with Dr. Suvrat Kher

On Geology

Never too interested in bookish knowledge, I took to geology quite early in my life. As a school kid I used to wander the hills around Pune, collecting minerals and rocks. When the time came to choose a career path I didn’t hesitate and decided to major in geology. This was not a commonly pursued career choice in those days. My parents however fully supported me in my determination to make geology my career. Geology is the study of the earth, both its surface and the deep interior. Like any sciences, it is a vast field with many sub-specializations. A career in the petroleum and mining industry will be familiar to many, but geology also offers other avenues. Groundwater exploration and management, environmental geology, geophysics and earthquake studies, understanding glaciers and their connection to rivers, coastal landscapes and their dynamics in wake of changing sea levels and wave patterns, and geological expertise provided in large infrastructure projects, are some major career pathways.
Geology has been an intensely rewarding experience in my life. Even if you don’t want to pursue this field as a career, I would encourage students to go out and explore the landscape around you and develop geology as a hobby. For those who want to pursue other sciences as a career, I would encourage them to take up geology at least for a year in college. It will make our earth’s deep past more accessible and also help you understand its relevance in solving the many problems our society faces today.