SYLLABUS FOR ENTRANCE TEST FOR Ph.

D IN MARINE SCIENCE,

UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA, 2010

A. PHYSICAL OCEANOGRPHY

a. Basics of Physical Oceanography

Physical Properties of Seawater and their distribution in the oceans; major water masses of the
world’s oceans and their characteristics; T-S diagram and mixing processes in the oceans.
Tides : types of tides and tide generating forces; tidal theories- equilibrium & dynamic theories;
tidal currents and shallow water effect of tides.
Ocean waves : types of ocean waves; wind generated waves in the oceans and their
characteristics; shallow and deep water waves; propagation, refraction, and reflection of waves.
Factors influencing coastal processes; transformation of waves in shallow water; effects of
stratification; effect of bottom friction, phenomena of wave reflection, refraction and diffraction;
breakers ,surf,swash-backwash; rip currents, longshore currents
Estuaries: classification and nomenclature; tides in estuaries; estuarine circulation and mixing;
coastal pollution; mixing and dispersal of pollutants in estuaries and near-shore areas.

b. Dynamic Oceanography:
Ocean current, circulation, acoustics and optics; current system including under current
formation and theories; oceanic fronts, thermohaline and abyssal circulation; western and eastern
boundary currents, equatorial current, Somali current.
The global wind system; action of wind on ocean surface; Ekman’s theory; Sverdrup, Stommel
and Munk’s theories; upwelling and sinking with special reference to the Indian ocean;
geostrophic motion; barotropic and baroclinic conditions; characteristics of the global conveyor
belt circulation and its causes.

c. Marine Meteorology:

Fundamental principles of climatology; Earth’s radiation balance; latitudinal and seasonal

variation of insolation, temperature, pressure, wind belts, humidity; cloud formation and
precipitation, water balance; air masses; monsoon system, jet streams, tropical cyclones and El-
Nino & ENSO.

Atmospheric turbulence and boundary layer. Structure and chemical composition of the
atmosphere, lapse rate and stability, scale height, geopotential, greenhouse gases and global
warming. Cloud formation and precipitation processes, air- sea interactions on different space
and time scales.

1
Tropical meteorology: trade wind inversion; ITCZ; monsoon trough tropical cyclones, their
structure and development theory; monsoon depressions; tropical easterly jet stream. Monsoonal
circulation in the Indian Ocean,

B. CHEMICAL OCEANOGRAPHY

a. Composition of seawater- classification of elements based on their distribution, major and

minor constituents, behavior of elements; chemical exchanges across interfaces and residence
times in seawater; Sodium balance; transport of material to the ocean, the river pathway, the
atmospheric pathway and the hydrothermal pathway; Advanced physical chemistry ;
composition of the sea water and speciation of trace metals. Distribution of inorganic plant
nutrients and their cycles.

b. Chemical & biological interactions, and ionic interactions: cycling and air-sea exchange of
important biogenic dissolved gases; pH, alkalinity and the carbon dioxide system; carbon cycles,
biological pump, organic materials; water column denitrification and emission of green house
gases.

c. Biogeochemical processes in aerobic and anaerobic environments, its effect on atmospheric

composition and climate; Inter-relationships between ocean circulation, primary productivity and
chemical composition of the atmosphere & the ocean.

d. Sedimentary environment: redox reactions and Eh-pH diagram and their applications,
chemical speciation, suspended particulate matter, radioactive decay schemes and their
application to geochronology, stable isotopes and their application to earth system processes.
Formation, transformation and transport of aerosol, organic carbon cycle molecular constituents
of organic matter in the ocean, lipids and single cell oil, Amino acids and proteins in sea water,
carbohydrate lignin and other low oxidation products; dissolved organic matter and their photo
oxidation.

e. Chemistry of marine natural products: biomedical aspects; chemical and pharmacological

properties of bioactive substances in marine organisms, carbohydrates and their derivatives in
red and brown algae, aliphatic acids and their derivatives in marine organisms, steroids and their
use as biomarkers, nitrogenous compounds in invertebrates, nucleosides from sponges,
biopolymer, Genetic Engineering : Gene structure, mutation (molecular mechanism), genetic
manipulation, use of genetic engineering for the development marine products.

2
C. GEOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY

a.Importance and History of Marine Geology

b. Shape & Rotation of the earth; International structure, composition and density of the earth,
Distribution and abundance of elements in the crust; Earth's gravity and magnetic fields; Seismic
reflection and refraction ; Hypsometry.

c. Principal topographic features of the ocean: Continental margins, Oceanic ridges, Abyssal
plans, Marginal trenches, Oceanic Islands, Deep Sea fans, Submarine canyons.

d. Ocean tectonics : Concepts of continental drift and Sea floor spreading; Basic concepts of
plate tectonics; Plate boundaries and interplate tectonism, Island arcs , Oceanic trenches and
back-arc basins; Hot spots and intraplate volcanism; Evolution of continental margins,
volcanism and Plate tectonics, Earthquakes & Plate tectonics; Driving mechanism of Plate
tectonics.
Geochemistry: Phase rule and its application in petrology; Elemental composition of the crust;
Rock cycle
e. Oceanic crust & Petrology : Structure and composition of the oceanic crust; Comparison
between continental curst and oceanic crust; Rocks of oceanic crust-their chemical and
mineralogical composition; Formation of oceanic crust; sea water-basalt interaction;
Hydrothemal vents; Ocean floor metamorphism, life cycles of oceans.

f. Sea Bed Minerals and Economic Geology : Rock –forming minerals, Minerals of Economic
Importance minerals, Silicate structure and its interrelation with physical and chemical properties
of minerals; Placers deposits; Terrigenous, Biogenous and Chemogenous deposits. Manganese
nodules- their occurrence, distribution, Physical character, morphology, growth rate, mineralogy,
chemistry and origin; Hdrothermal sulphide deposits. Origin of Coal ,Petroleum,Gas hydrates
and Coal bed methane; Hydrological cycle and formation of ground water

g. Sedimentology: Clastic and non-clastic sediments and sedimentary rocks - their mechanism of
formation; Texture of clastic and non-clastic sediments; Concept of size, shape, roundness and
sphericity of clastic particles, Grade scales, Graphic representation of size analysis; Diagenesis of
sediments; flow regime and processes of sediment transport; Classification of conglomerate, sandstone,
mudstone and carbonate rocks, Reconstruction of palaeoenvironments. Primary, secondary and
biogenic sedimentary structures ;Sedimentary facies and environments, sedimentation and tectonics;
Principles of basin analysis.

h. Oceanic Sediments: Sources and composition of marine sediments; Mechanism of tidal

sedimentation. Tidal and Deep see sedimentary structures; Classfication of deep sea sediments;
Modes and rates of sedimentation in deep Sea; Animal - sediment interaction; trace fossils;
bioturbation structures and their uses.

3
i.Stratigraphy: Stratigraphic subdivisions and Code of stratigraphic nomenclature;
Lithostratigraphic, chronostratigraphic and biostratigraphic subdivisions; Concept of sequence
stratigraphy; Geological time scale; Unconformities; Facies concept in stratigraphy-Walther’s
Law; Principles of correlation; ;Uniformitarianism; Laws of superposition and faunal succession,
Determination of relative and absolute (radiometric) age of rock bodies.

D. BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY

a. Coastal Aquaculture and fisheries management

Aquaculture practices and types.; Prospects of fish culture and fisheries in mangrove areas;
Site selection of brackish water aquaculture; Preparation of culture ponds for stocking,
liming and fertilization ; Feed management and aquaculture nutrition ; Culture techniques
of shrimps, crabs, mussels, clam, oysters and seaweeds ; Common diseases of marine and
estuarine fin fishes and shell fishes – treatment, control and prevention of diseases ; Canning
– principles of canning, preservation of raw material, canning operation, types of canned
material and different system of tests of canned products ; Freezing techniques and types.

b. Marine Ecology
Zonation of the marine environment ; Food chain, food webs and trophic levels ; Biotic
Community- concept, structure, dominance, fluctuation and succession; Trophic structure
and ecological pyramids, energy flow in the ecosystem ; Biogeochemical cycles in ecosystem ;
Ecological succession with reference to phytoplankton and mangroves ; Estuarine and
mangrove ecosystem: biodiversity, threats and conservation ; Population growth form and
concept of carrying capacity, population fluctuation, predator-prey relationship, population
dispersal, community analysis, species diversity in community ; Impact of climate change on
mangrove ecosystem; resistance and resilience of mangroves to climate change and natural
disasters like cyclone, tsunami etc. ; Inter-relationship between environmental variables and
biotic community through simple statistical approach.

c. Marine Pollution and Ecotoxicology

Eutrophication and organic loading; type of marine pollutants; Sewage pollution; Heavy
metals – composition and sources, metal toxicity – effects on biotic communities; persistent
organic pollutants; Radioactivity : anthropogenic sources; type of radioactive wastes; effects
on biotic communities;

d. Marine Zoology

Zooplankton – classification, vertical migration ; Horse-shoe crabs, the living fossil – types,
distribution and biomedical importance ; Adaptation of organisms inhabiting rocky, sandy
and muddy substratum ; Deep sea organisms and their adaptation, Hydrothermal vent
community and their adaptation ; Life cycle of main representatives under echinoderms,
molluscs and arthropods ; Concept of Bioluminescence, key stone species. Reproduction
and life history – prawns, shrimps, crabs, mussels, oysters, Hilsa ; Migration of fishes-
purpose and types; Sharks and Dolphins - conservation and management;

4
e. Marine Botany

Classification of marine plants and their habitats; Classification, distribution and

characteristics of phytoplankton. General characteristics, vegetative & reproductive
structure of the following groups: cyanophyta, chlorophyta,Bacillariophyta, Phaeophyta &
Rhodophyta. ; Bioremoval of heavy metal by microalgae ; Taxonomy, and biogeographic
distribution of mangroves; morphological, anatomical and physiological adaptations of
mangroves and their reproductive biology.

f. Marine Microbiology

Marine microbes : An Overview. Characteristics of Marine bacteria;, qualitative and

quantitative distributions of marine micro-organisms ;
Characteristics of deep sea micro-organisms adapted to extreme environment. Deep sea
Piezophilic bacteria, psychrophilic bacteria and Hydrothermal vent microbes.
Structure, classification, genetics, reproduction and physiology of bacteria, viruses and other
acellular organisms (eg., prion/virino, Satellites and Viroids ). Lysogeny and Transduction.
Growth and Nutrition : Definition of measurement of growth, Kinetics, nutritional types,;
Major environmental conditions influencing microflora; distribution of micro-organisms in
the aquatic environment – freshwater, estuarine and marine environment. , culture media,
enrichment techniques and synchronous growth

Microbial fermentation: Different fermentation pathways. Importance of fermentation.

Antibiotics, Antimicrobial, Microcidal, Microstatic .

Control of microorganisms : Disinfection and sterilization; Different physical and chemical

methods for these processes.

Microbial pathogenecity : Pathogenic properties of bacteria, toxins and extracellular

enzymes, seawater borne human pathogens.

UV radiation effects on microbes and microbial processes in the ocean. UV-B induced
DNA damage in marine microorganisms.
Microbes in biodegradation and recycling processes; .Microbial corrosion of concrete, iron
and other non-ferous metals. Bioremediation . Symbiotic and asymbiotic l nitrogen fixation
and biogeochemical cycles.