GATE Geology & Geophysics Syllabus 2025

GATE  Geology & Geophysics Syllabus 2025 can be challenging to prepare for and score well on the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering. Prior to beginning the preparation of the examination, candidates should have a clear understanding of the GATE Geology & Geophysics Syllabus. The syllabus will be released by the conducting authority, IIT Kanpur, on its official website.

Read more: GATE Syllabus 2024, IISC Bangalore GATE Subject Wise Syllabus

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GATE Geology & Geophysics Syllabus 2025
GATE 2025 Geology & Geographics Syllabus is divided into various sections according to the exam pattern. There are a number of very important topics included in the syllabus, such as igneous petrology, geological time scales, crystallography, among others. The Syllabus is divided into three important sections, including the common section, geology, and geophysics.  

Below is the section-wise syllabus in detail: 

GATE Geology & Geophysics Syllabus –
Common Section 

The common section of the GATE 2025 Geology and Geophysics section includes topics like petrology, mineralogy, and remote sensing. 

Few other important topics are:
 1. Terrestrial planets and moons of the solar system, Earth and planetary system: Terrestrial planets and moons of the solar system, size, shape, internal structure and composition of the earth, the concept of isostasy, elements of seismology – body and surface waves, propagation of body waves in the earth’s interior, Heat flow within the earth, Gravitational field of the Earth, geomagnetism and palaeomagnetism, continental drift, plate tectonics – relationship with earthquakes, volcanism and mountain building, continental and oceanic crust– composition, structure, and thickness.
2. Weathering and soil formation, landforms created by rivers, wind, glaciers, oceans, and volcanoes.3.
3. Basic structural geology
4. Crystallography: basic crystal symmetry and concept of point groups
5. Mineralogy
6. Petrology of common rocks
7. Geological time scale, Geochronology and absolute time and major stratigraphic divisions of India.
8. Mineral, coal, and petroleum resources of India.
9. Introduction to remote sensing
10. Engineering properties of rocks and soils
11. Elements of hydrogeology
12. Principles and applications of gravity, magnetic, electrical, electromagnetic, seismic and radiometric methods of prospecting for oil, mineral and groundwater, and introductory good logging.

Below table shows important topics of the Geology section in detail: 

GATE Geology Syllabus- Geophysics
The Geophysics section of the GATE Geology syllabus includes topics such as seismology, gravity methods, and geodesy.
Below are some of the important topics of the Geophysics section:
1. Geodesy

2. Earthquake Seismology:
The topics covered include:
a. Elements of elasticity theory- Generalized Hooke’s Law, Stress and Strain tensors, body and surface waves,  irrational and equi-volumnal waves, reflection and refraction of elastic waves, homogenous and evanescent waves and bounded waves
b.  Elements of seismic tomography and Eikonal equation and ray theory.

3. Solid Earth Geophysics:
The topics covered under this section include:
a. The earth as a planet
b. Different motions of the earth
c. Gravity field of the earth
d. Clariaut’s Theorem
e. Size and shape of the earth
f. Geomagnetic field
g. Paleomagnetism
h. Geothermics and heat flow
i. Seismology and interior of the earth 

4. Variation of density, velocity, pressure, temperature, electrical and magnetic properties of the earth
a. Potential and Time-varying fields
b. Gravity methods
c. Reduction of layers, electrical methods parameters, principles of equivalence and suppression, triangle of anisotropy, interpretation of resistivity field data, self-potential method and its origin, Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT), induced polarization, time and frequency domain IP measurements.

5. Magnetic Methods: Units of measurement, elements of earth’s magnetic field, magnetometers and magnetic gradiometers, magnetic susceptibility of rocks and measurements, magnetometers and magnetic gradiometers, land, airborne and marine magnetic and magnetic gradiometer surveys, various corrections applied to magnetic data, reduction to pole transformation, IGRF, Poisson’s relation to gravity and magnetic potential field, upward and downward continuation, preparation of magnetic maps, Poisson’s relation to gravity and magnetic potential field, image processing concepts in the processing of magnetic anomaly maps and magnetic anomalies due to geometrical and irregular shaped bodies.

6. Electromagnetic Methods: Geo-magnetic spectrum, Biot Savart’s Lq, Maxwell’s Equation, Helmholtz Equation, Basic concept of EM induction in the earth, elliptic polarization, skin depth, in-phase and quadrature components, phasor diagrams, ground and airborne methods, response function and response parameters, phasor diagrams, response function and response parameters, measurements in different source- receiver configurations, Earth’s natural electromagnetic methods- Telluric, geomagnetic depth sounding and magnetotellurics.

7.Seismic Methods – Elastic properties of earth materials, reflection, refraction and CDP surveys, generation and propagation of elastic waves, velocity- geophones, depth models, hydrophones, digital formats, digital recording systems, geophones, field layouts, seismic noise and noise profile analysis, optimum geophone grouping, noise cancellation and geophone arrays, 2D, 3D and 4D seismic data acquisition, processing and interpretation.
8.  Geophysical signal processing
9. Geophysical Survey Design
10. Geophysical Well logging 
11. Geophysical Inversion
12. Radioactive Methods: Prospecting and assaying of minerals ( Radioactive and Non-Radioactive), radioactive equilibrium, deposits, half-life, decay constant, scintillation detector, GM counter, application of radiometric for exploration, assaying and radioactive waste disposal. 

GATE Geology & Geophysics (GG) Syllabus 2025 Exam Pattern
Below is the GATE Geology and Geophysics Syllabus exam pattern: 

Paper code: GG (Part A + Part B (Section 1 Geology Or Section 2 Geophysics)
1. General Aptitude (GA) Marks of Geology and Geophysics (GG ) : 15 marks
2. Subject Marks: (Part A) + (Part B)= 25+ 60= 85 marks
3. Total marks for GG: 100 marks
4. Total time (in Minutes): 180 marks

Read more: GATE Exam Pattern 2024 – Subject-Wise Question Paper Pattern, Marking Scheme

FAQs on GATE Geology & Geophysics Syllabus

Below are the FAQs related to GATE Geology and Geophysics Syllabus:

1.What is the GATE Geology & Geophysics Syllabus?
   The GATE Geology and Geophysics Syllabus includes three sections including common section, geophysics
and geology.

2. What are the key topics of the syllabus for GATE Geology?
     The important topics of syllabus for GATE Geology are:
1. Structural Geology
2. Geomorphology
3. Mineralogy and Crystallography
4. Igneous petrology
5. Structural Geology
   6. Sedimentology
   7. Metamorphic petrology
   8. Paleobiology

3. What are the recommended books for GATE 2025 Geology Syllabus?
      The recommended books for GATE 2025 Geology syllabus are as follows:
       1. Engineering Geology- R Nagarajan
      2. Principles of Engineering Geology- KM Bangar
      3. Engineer and General Geology- Parvin Singh. 

Read more: GATE Preparation Books – Best Books For GATE 2024

4. Is section 1 of the GATE Geology syllabus compulsory for all?
     Yes according to the syllabus for GATE Geology, section 1 is a common section and is compulsory for all. This  section is weighted at 15% of the total marks for the geology course.

5. How can I prepare for the syllabus of GATE Geology in three months?
     The students can prepare for the complete GATE Geology in three months by following the tips          and tricks given below:
      1. Acquaint yourself with the syllabus
      2. Read good study materials for clearing the basic concepts
      3. Keep solving and analyzing previous year’s question papers
      4. Set proper time for revision.

6. What are the important topics of the common section of the GATE Geology Syllabus?
     The most important topics of the common section of the GATE Geology syllabus are :
     1. Mineralogy
     2. Earth and planetary system
     3. Introduction to remote sensing
     4. Engineering properties of rocks and soils

7. What are the important books for the mineralogy section of the GATE Geology syllabus?
     The recommended books of the mineralogy section of the GATE Geology syllabus are:
1. Optical: William D. Nesse and Tulane
2. Crystallo: Andrew Putnis or C. Klien and D. Perkins
3. Physical: Cornelis Klien and Dexter Perkins.