Researchers to meet in Goa to discuss exploration in the Laxmi Basin

With a view to study the role of the Himalayas in modulating climate in the Indian sub-continent, researchers in the country will gather in Goa next week to discuss the possibility of exploration in the Laxmi Basin, a western continental margin of India.

Shailesh Nayak, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MOES) was addressing the seventh International Conference on Asian Marine Geology (ICAMG) hosted at National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Dona Paula.

"We have already proposed to have deep bore-hole on the Laxmi Basin. This bore-hole is expected to provide high resolution climate records for studying erosional history in the Western Himalayas and sedimentation in the Indus Fan, development of monsoon, role of Himalayas in modulating climate in the Indian sub-continent and others," he said.

"Detailed discussions have been planned next week in the National Centre for Antarctica and Ocean Research, Goa. We are looking forward to initiate this program if the ship Joides Resolution is available," he said.

JOIDES Resolution (Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling) is a scientific drilling ship. The ICAMG conference, which will go on for the next four days in Goa, has 240 delegates across the globe. According to organisers, this is the first ICAMG conference to be held in South Asia.