NISER

• Postdoc, Monash University, Australia, 2018-2022
• Ph.D., Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, 2013-2018
• M.Sc., Applied Geology, Jadavpur University, India, 2009-2011
• B.Sc. (hons), Geological Sciences, Jadavpur University, India, 2006-2009

• Lithosphere dynamics
• Petrology
• Numerical geodynamic modelling
• Early Earth evolution
• Diffusion kinetics and its application in Earth Sciences

• Dr. Heinrich Kost Prize (for best PhD thesis in Natural Sc. & Engg.), Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, 2018
• German Academic Exchange Service (D.A.A.D) PhD Scholarship, 2013
• Promotho Nath Bose Memorial Medal (first rank in M.Sc.), Jadavpur University, India, 2011
• University Gold Medal (first rank in M.Sc.), Jadavpur University, India, 2011
• University Gold Medal (first rank in B.Sc.), Jadavpur University, India, 2009

Peer-reviewed articles (^†student):

• Gunawardana, P. M.^†, Chowdhury, P., Morra, G., and Cawood, P. A., 2024. Correlating mantle cooling with tectonic transitions on early Earth. Geology, 52(4), 230-234. https://doi.org/10.1130/G51874.1 
• Jiao, S., Brown, M., Mitchell, R. N., Chowdhury, P., Clark, C., Chen, L., Chen, Y., Korhonen, F., Huang, G., and Guo, J. Mechanisms to generate ultrahigh temperature metamorphism. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 4, 298-318. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00403-2
• Cawood, P. A., Chowdhury, P., Mulder, J. M., Hawkesworth, C., Capitanio, F.A., Gunawardana, P.M. and Nebel, O., 2022. Secular evolution of continents and the Earth system. Reviews of Geophysics, 60(4), e2022RG000789. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022RG000789
• Chaudhari, A., Brugger, J., Ram, R., Chowdhury, P., Etschmann, B., Guaguliardo, P., Xia, F., Pring, A., Gervinskas, G., Liu, A. and Frierdich, A., 2022. Synchronous solid-state diffusion, dissolution-reprecipitation, and recrystallization leading to isotopic resetting: insights from chalcopyrite replacement by copper sulfides. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 331, 48-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2022.06.005
• Chowdhury, P., Mulder, J. A., Cawood, P.A., Bhattacharjee, S., Roy, S., Wainwright, A., Nebel, O and Mukherjee, S, 2021. Magmatic thickening of crust in non-plate tectonic settings initiated the subaerial rise of continents 3.3-3.2 billion years ago. PNAS, 118 (46), e2105746118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2105746118
• Chowdhury, P., Chakraborty, S. and Gerya, T.V., 2021. Time will tell: Secular change in metamorphic timescales and the tectonic implications. Gondwana Research, 93, 291-310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2021.02.003
• Bhattacharjee, S.^†, Mulder, J.A., Roy, S.^†, Chowdhury, P., Cawood, P.A. and Nebel, O., 2021. Unravelling depositional setting, age and provenance of the Simlipal volcano-sedimentary complex, Singhbhum craton: Evidence for Hadean crust and Mesoarchean marginal marine sedimentation. Precambrian Research, 354, 106038. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2020.106038
• Gunawardana, P.M.^†, Morra, G., Chowdhury, P. and Cawood, P.A., 2020. Calibrating the Yield Strength of Archean Lithosphere Based on the Volume of Tonalite-Trondhjemite-Granodiorite Crust. Frontiers in Earth Science, 8, 548724. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2020.548724
• Chowdhury, P., Chakraborty, S., Gerya, T.V., Cawood, P.A. and Capitanio, F.A., 2020. Peel-back controlled lithospheric convergence explains the secular transitions in Archean metamorphism and magmatism. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 538, 116224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116224
• McCoy-West, A.J., Chowdhury, P., Burton, K.W., Sossi, P., Nowell, G.M., Fitton, J.G., Kerr, A.C., Cawood, P.A. and Williams, H.M, 2019. Extensive crustal extraction in Earth's early history inferred from molybdenum isotopes. Nature Geoscience, 12, 946-951. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0451-2
• Capitanio, F.A., Nebel, O., Cawood, P.A., Weinberg, R.F. and Chowdhury, P, 2019. Reconciling thermal regimes and tectonics of the early Earth. Geology, 47(10), 923-927. https://doi.org/10.1130/G46239.1
• Chowdhury, P. and Chakraborty, S, 2019. Slow cooling at higher temperatures recorded within high-P mafic granulites from the Southern Granulite Terrain, India: Implications for the presence and style of plate tectonics near the Archean-Proterozoic boundary, Journal of Petrology, 60-3, 441-486. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egz001
• Chowdhury, P., Gerya, T.V. and Chakraborty, S, 2017. Emergence of silicic continents as the lower crust peels off on a hot plate-tectonic Earth. Nature Geoscience, 10, 698-703. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo3010
• Chakraborty, S., Mukhopadhyay, D., Chowdhury, P., Rubatto, D., Anczkiewicz, R., Trepmann, C., Gaidies, F., Sorcar, N. and Dasgupta, S, 2017. Channel Flow and localized fault bounded slice tectonics (LFBST): Insights from petrological, structural, geochronological and geospeedometric studies in the Sikkim Himalayas, NE India. Lithos, 282-283, 464-482. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2017.01.024
• Mukhopadhyay, D., Chakraborty, S., Trepmann, C., Rubatto, D., Anczkiewicz, R., Gaidies, F., Dasgupta, S. and Chowdhury, P., 2017. The nature and evolution of the Main Central Thrust: Structural, geochronological and petrological constraints from the Sikkim Himalaya, NE India. Lithos, 282-283, 447-463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2017.01.015
• Sengupta. P, Raith, M. M., Kooijman, E., Talukdar, M., Chowdhury, P., Sanyal, S., Mezger, K. and Mukhopadhyay, D, 2015. Provenance, timing of sedimentation and metamorphism of metasedimentary rock suites from the Southern Granulite Terrane, India. In: P. Eriksson & R. Mazumder (eds) Precambrian Basins of India: Stratigraphic and Tectonic Context. Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 43, 297–308. https://doi.org/10.1144/M43.20
• Chowdhury, P., Taukdar, M., Sengupta, P., Sanyal, S. and Mukhopadhyay, D, 2013. Controls of P-T path and element mobility on the formation of corundum pseudomorphs in Palaeoproterozoic high-pressure anorthosite from Sittampundi, Tamil Nadu, India. American Mineralogist, 98, 1725-1737. https://doi.org/10.2138/am.2013.4350

Conference abstracts (^†student):

• Cawood, P.A., Chowdhury, P., (2024) Earth’s early tectonic modes and implications for habitability. EGU General Assembly, Vienna.
• Chowdhury, P., Cawood, P.A., (2023) Orogenesis on early Earth was controlled by lithospheric peeling. 6th International Archean Symposium (6ias), Perth.
• Cawood, P.A., Chowdhury, P., Mulder, J. M., Hawkesworth, C., Capitanio, F.A., Gunawardana, P.M., Nebel, O., (2023) On tectonic modes of early Earth. EGU General Assembly, Vienna.
• Chowdhury, P., Cawood, P.A., Mulder, J A., (2023) When and how did Earth's earliest continents first emerge above the oceans? EGU General Assembly, Vienna.
• Cawood, P.A., Chowdhury, P., Mulder, J A., (2022) Secular evolution of tectonics and volcano-sedimentology. 21st International Sedimentology Congress (ISC), Beijing.
• Gunawardana, P.M.^†, Morra, G., Chowdhury, P., Capitanio, F. A., Cawood, P.A. (2021) Do Archean cratons impact the initiation of subduction. AGU Fall Meeting, New Orleans.
• Gunawardana, P.M.^†, Morra, G., Chowdhury, P., Cawood, P.A. (2021) What led to episodic subduction during the Archean? EGU General Assembly, Vienna.
• Gunawardana, P.M.^†, Morra, G., Chowdhury, P., Cawood, P.A. (2020) Weaker lithospheric dripduction into Archean TTG crust formation. AGU Fall Meeting (Online).
• Ladwig, S. A., McCoy-West, A., Chowdhury, P., Moyen, J. F., Ivanic, T., Nebel, O. and Cawood, P. A (2020) Statistical Re-evaluation of REE Pattern in TTGs to Decipher Formation Processes of the First Continental Crust. Goldschmidt, Hawaii.
• Capitanio, F. A., Nebel. O., Cawood, P.A., Weinberg, R. F. and Chowdhury, P. (2019) Lithosphere differentiation controls Archean tectonics and craton formation. AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco.
• Chowdhury, P., Chakraborty, S., Gerya, T., Cawood, P.A. and Capitanio, F. A. (2019) Delamination Assisted Plate Convergence Explains Secular Changes in Archean Rock Record. Goldschmidt, Barcelona.
• McCoy-West, A., Chowdhury, P., Burton, K., Sossi, P., Nowell, G., Fitton, G., Cawood, P.A. and Williams, H. (2019) Molybdenum Isotope Evidence for Extensive Crustal Extraction and Recycling in Earth's First Billion Years. Goldschmidt, Barcelona.
• Chowdhury, P., Chakraborty, S., Gerya, T., Cawood, P.A. and Capitanio, F. A. (2018) Evidence for hot orogeny at the Archean-Proterozoic boundary from the P-T-t history of mafic granulites, South India. Australian Geoscience Council Convention (AGCC), Adelaide.
• Chakraborty, S., Chowdhury, P. and Gerya, T. (2018) Time will tell: Using geospeedometry to distinguish between early precambrian and later tectonic styles. Goldschmidt, Boston.
• Chowdhury, P. and Chakraborty, S. (2017). Thermal history of early Proterozoic granulites from S. India: Implications for plate tectonic styles on an early hot Earth. GeoBremen 2017, Bremen.
• Chowdhury, P. and Chakraborty, S. (2017) Constraining the P-T-t architecture of a tectono-thermal event at the onset of Proterozoic eon from mineral reaction history and diffusion modeling. Goldschmidt, Paris.
• Chowdhury, P., Gerya, T. and Chakraborty, S. (2016). Transition in the Mode of Syn-Collisional Continental-Recycling with Secular Cooling of the Earth and its Implications for Crustal Evolution. AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco.
• Chowdhury, P., Gerya, T. and Chakraborty, S. (2015). Continental crustal recycling by modern-day plate tectonics and its plausible nature in the early Earth: A numerical modeling approach. In: Wagner, J. and Elger, K. [Eds.] GeoBerlin 2015- Dynamic Earth from Alfred Wegener to today and beyond, pp.114, GeoBerlin-DMG-DGGV Annual Meeting, Berlin.
• Bhattacharya, S., Chowdhury, P., Sanyal, S. and Sengupta, P. (2013). Petrological evolution and thermal modeling of a dolomitic marble xenolith in the Madan Mahal Granite of Jabalpur district, M.P., India. In: Singh, V. K. and Chandra, R. [Eds.]  3rd International Conference on Precambrian Continental Growth and Tectonism, pp. 32, International Association for Gondwana Research Conference (IAGR) series 16, Jhansi, (India).

My research interests include understanding the evolution of Earth's lithospheric processes and continental crust through time, and its impact on the planet's atmosphere and oceans. I integrate the tools and principles of petrology, numerical geodynamic modelling, field geology, and geochemistry in my work. Currently, I am conducting research on Earth's early evolution (i.e., ca. 4 to 2 billion years ago from today) and seeking to answer some of the longstanding questions in geosciences, including:

• How and when plate tectonics started on Earth?
• What was the nature of early plate tectonic processes? How similar were they compared to the modern-day tectonic processes?
• What was the thermal structure of lithosphere on early Earth, and how did it affect the prevalent tectonic style?
• What processes controlled the formation of Earth's first continents?
• How and when did continents rise above the oceans?
• How did continent formation and plate tectonics affect the oxygenation of the atmosphere and oceans?

Ms. Tiyasha Basu (PhD, 2022- present)

Ms. Sayani Chatterjee (PhD, 2023- present)

• EP601 Introduction to Earth Science
• EP641 Practical course and Field Work
• EP652 Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology

Editorial Board Member, GEOLOGY (2022- present)