M. S. Krishnan (geologist)

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Maharajapuram Seetharaman Krishnan (24 August 1898-24 August 1970, Tanjore) was an Indian geologist.

Krishnan excelled in early student years and was given a fellowship to study in England. He completed his Ph. D. at the age of 26 and joined the Geological Survey of India and worked alongside Lewis Fermor, C. S. Fox, J. A. Dunn, A. M. Heron, H. C. Jones, and J. B. Auden in pre-Independence times.

He worked on stratigraphic mapping in Gangpur, Bonai, Bamra and Keonjar (parts of present Orissa State) and identified the 'Gangpur Series' published in GSI Memoir 71 (1937). He also worked on minerals of economic importance including iron, manganese ores, gypsum, mica, limestone and published his studies in the GSI Memoir 80 (1952). He also worked on the of the rocks of Girnar and Osham hills of Saurashtra (now in Gujarat), lateritization of the peculiar meta-sedimentary rocks called the khondalites, the mineral resources of former Central Provinces and Berar (now forming parts of Madhya Pradesh), the geology of the Vindhyan formations of northern India, the Deccan traps, the Tertiaries of Tanjore (Tamil Nadu), and made observations on mythical rivers such as the Indobrahm and Saraswathi.

He taught geology at the Presidency College, Madras (1920–21), Forest College, Dehra Dun (1928–30) and the Presidency College, Calcutta (1933–35). At the suggestion of Cyril S. Fox of the Geological Survey of India he decided to work on a book on Indian stratigraphy. This resulted in the publication of Geology of India and Burma in 1943 and the Introduction to Geology of India in 1944. The first book has gone through 6 editions and has also been translated into Russian. He was the Director of Indian Bureau of Mines (New Delhi) from 1948 to 1951, Director of Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, during 1957–58, Head of the Geology and Geophysics Department, Andhra University, Waltair from 1958 to 1960, and helped found the National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, of which he was the Director between 1961 and 1963.

He received the Padma Bhushan in January 1970 from the President of India, S. Radhakrishnan.

[edit] References

• Sankaran, A. V. M. S. Krishnan: Geologist par excellence. Current Science 75(10):1084