The collaboration marks an important step towards strengthening seabed investigations and studies of marine hydrothermal mineralisation in the Andaman Sea.
It is also aimed at enhancing scientific understanding of the region’s submarine volcanic activity and mineralisation processes.
This regional system extends from the Myanmar region through the Andaman Sea and the Andaman–Nicobar area toward northern Sumatra and the Indonesian volcanic arc.
The joint GSI-CSIR-NIO expedition will focus on cratered seamounts, which are ancient underwater volcanic mountains featuring circular or elliptical depressions, craters or calderas at their summits.
An ROV is an unmanned, remotely controlled underwater vehicle that allows researchers to observe and study areas that are difficult to access directly.
Sri Vijaya Puram | August 17, 2026
Tarun Karthick
The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR-NIO), Goa, to undertake a joint remotely operated vehicle (ROV) expedition for seabed investigation of cratered seamounts in the Andaman Volcanic Arc.
The MoU was signed on August 10, 2026, by Dr. N. M. Shareef, Deputy Director General and Head of the Marine & Coastal Survey Division, GSI, and Prof. Sunil Kumar Singh, Director, CSIR-NIO, Goa, in the presence of senior officials.
The collaboration marks an important step towards strengthening seabed investigations and studies of marine hydrothermal mineralisation in the Andaman Sea. It is also aimed at enhancing scientific understanding of the region’s submarine volcanic activity and mineralisation processes.
The Andaman volcanic region forms part of the broader Burmese–Andaman–Western Sunda tectonic system, generated primarily by the oblique subduction of the Indian–Australian plate beneath the Burma microplate and Sunda Plate. This regional system extends from the Myanmar region through the Andaman Sea and the Andaman–Nicobar area toward northern Sumatra and the Indonesian volcanic arc.
The Andaman Sea is an actively developing back-arc basin associated with this subduction zone, and its tectonic evolution includes back-arc spreading, strike-slip faulting, earthquakes and submarine volcanism. Marine geophysical studies have mapped numerous submarine volcanic edifices in the Andaman Sea and traced a submarine volcanic trend from the region south of Sumatra northward toward the Barren Island and Narcondam sector. The number of mapped submarine volcanoes depends on the survey area and methodology; one study reported 23, while a later regional analysis identified 33.
Barren Island is an active volcano and has experienced historic and recent eruptions. Narcondam is also a volcanic island, but it is generally regarded as dormant or inactive.
The joint GSI-CSIR-NIO expedition will focus on cratered seamounts, which are ancient underwater volcanic mountains featuring circular or elliptical depressions, craters or calderas at their summits.
These structures are associated with volcanic activity, including collapse or explosive processes, and can provide scientists with valuable information about the geological evolution and volcanic history of the seabed.
More than half of all seamounts are understood to display such collapse or explosive volcanic structures. Their craters can range from tens of metres to more than five kilometres in width.
Seamounts can also support distinctive deep-sea ecosystems and serve as important biodiversity hotspots.
As part of the collaboration, scientists will use a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to investigate the seabed and underwater volcanic structures. An ROV is an unmanned, remotely controlled underwater vehicle that allows researchers to observe and study areas that are difficult to access directly.
The expedition will particularly contribute to studies of marine hydrothermal mineralisation—the process through which hot, mineral-rich fluids associated with geological activity circulate beneath or around the seabed and can deposit minerals.
In simple terms, the joint expedition will allow scientists to use underwater technology to get a closer look at ancient volcanic mountains beneath the Andaman Sea, study their craters and surrounding seabed, and understand the geological and mineralisation processes that have shaped the region.
The collaboration between GSI and CSIR-NIO is therefore expected to strengthen scientific investigation of the largely unexplored submarine geological features of the Andaman Sea and contribute to a better understanding of the region’s volcanic and mineral resources.
