Welcome to BSIP

Professor Birbal Sahni, FRS, established the Institute in the year 1946 to explore and develop palaeobotany as a science in itself, visualizing its potential in solving issues of origin and evolution of plant life, other geological issues including exploration of fossil fuels. Originally plant fossil and related studies based, the mandate of the BSIP was recently expanded to combine it with other areas of palaeosciences, and creating modern facilities to achieve this end. The newly widened mandate aims to look at

  • Understanding origin and evolution of life through time
  • Understanding climate change in recent and deep geological times
  • Understanding past civilization and human history
  • Application of palaeosciences to exploration programmes of oil and coal industry

BSIP is striving to attain excellence in R&D through a dedicated scientific team together with integrated innovative ideas in basic and applied research. In its broadest sense, the BSIP seeks to interpret plant life evolution and geological processes involved, and environmental evolution through time.

Founder
Prof. Birbal Sahni, FRS
Founder BSIP
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Director
Dr. (Mrs.) Vandana Prasad
Director (wef June 11, 2019)
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Research Highlights

Ansari AH, Singh VK, Kumar P, Sharma M, Sharma A, Patnaik S, Gundiga GP, Rahi IC, Ansari MA, Ramanathan A. Hydrogeochemistry, Geothermometry, and Sourcing of High Dissolved Boron, Tungsten, and Chlorine Concentrations in the Trans-Himalayan Hotsprings of Ladakh, India. Hydrology, 10(6):118. doi.org/10.3390/hydrology10060118     View PDF

Mehrotra N, Basavaiah N, Shah SK. 2023. Revisit the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age in Proxy Records from Zemu Glacier Sediments, Eastern Himalaya: Vegetation and Climate Reconstruction. Quaternary 6(2): 32 doi.org/10.3390/quat6020032     View PDF

Bhattacharyya A, Dhyani R, Joshi R, Shekhar M, Kuniyal JC, Ranhotra PS, Singh SP. 2023. Is survival of Himalayan Cedar (Cedrus deodara) threatened? An evaluation based on predicted scenarios of its growth trend under future climate change. Science of The Total Environment. 882: 163630 dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163630     View PDF

Shukla SK*, Crosta X, Ikehara M. 2023. Synergic role of frontal migration and silicic acid concentration in driving diatom productivity in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean over the past 350 ka. Marine Micropaleontology, 181, 102245 doi.org/10.1016/j.marmicro.2023.102245     View PDF

Thomte L, Shah SK, Mehrotra N, Saikia A, Bhagabati AK. 2023. Dendrochronology in the tropics using tree-rings of Pinus kesiya. Dendrochronologia 78: 126070 doi.org/10.1016/j.dendro.2023.126070     View PDF

Ansari AH. 2023. Detection of organic matter on Mars, results from various Mars missions, challenges, and future strategy: A review. Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences. 10:1075052 doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2023.1075052     View PDF

Pandey A, Tripathi S, Basumatary SK. 2022. Non-Pollen Palynomorphs from the Late-Holocene Sediments of Majuli Island, Assam (Indo-Burma Region): Implications to Palaeoenvironmental Studies. In: Phartiyal, B., Mohan, R., Chakraborty, S., Dutta, V., Gupta, A.K. (eds) Climate Change and Environmental Impacts: Past, Present, and Future Perspective. Society of Earth Scientists Series. Springer, Cham doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13119-6_5     View PDF

Tripathi S, Srivastava J, Garg A, Khan S, Farooqui A, Quamar MF, Thakur B, Ranhotra PS, Basumatary SK, Trivedi A, Pandey S, Anupama K, Prasad S, Reghu N. 2022. Surface pollen quantification and floristic survey at Shaheed Chandra Shekhar Azad (SCSA) Bird Sanctuary, Central Ganga Plain, India: a pilot study for the palaeoecological implications. Journal of Palaeosciences, 71(2), 159–176 doi.org/10.54991/jop.2022.1838     View PDF

Tripathi S, Thakur B, Sharma A, Phartiyal B, Basumatary SK, Ghosh R et al. 2023. Modern biotic and abiotic analogues from the surface soil of Ganga-Ghaghara-Gandak interfluves of the Central Ganga Plain (CGP), India: Implications for the palaeoecological reconstruction. Catena 224:106975 doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2023.106975     View PDF

Agarwal S, Shukla SK*, Srivastava P, Sundriyal Y. 2023. Peat sequence diatoms from Kedarnath, Central Himalaya, used to reconstruct mid-late Holocene hydroclimatic conditions. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 612, 111381 doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.111381     View PDF

Joshi Priyanka, Phartiyal Binita* Joshi Mallickarjun, Agrawal Shailesh, Pankaj Baghel and Rajveer Sharma. 2023. Reconstruction of landscape and climate during last 7000 cal yr BP of the largest basin of the Ladakh Range, NW Indian Himalaya. doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2022.106907     View PDF

Shah SK, Berkelhammer M, Li Q, Mehrotra N, Thomte L, Shell R, Pandey U, Gaire NP, Kathayat G, Sinha A. 2023. Regional tree-ring oxygen isotope deduced summer monsoon drought variability for Kumaun-Gharwal Himalaya. Quaternary Science Review 301: 107927. doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107927     View PDF