Mineralogical Characterization of Graphite Deposits from Thodupuzha-Kanjirappally Belt, Madurai Granulite Block, Southern India

Graphite from deposits occurring in the high-grade metamorphic rocks and their larteritized equivalents of the Thodupuzha-Kanjirappally Belt in Madurai Granulite Block, southern India is structurally fully ordered (crystallite size, Lc(002) ranging from 469 to 749 Å), possess high degree of graphitization (DG value ranging from 105 to 267 Å) and reflect crystallization at high temperature (700±100°C). Raman spectra of graphite display profiles corresponding to high crystallinity and high structural ordering. The high temperature crystallinity characteristics of graphite were not obliterated during retrogression of granulites to amphibolite facies gneisses. Preliminary carbon stable isotope results show a spread in isotope values from —11.8 to —26.8 %, which suggest more than one sources for carbon. The lighter carbon isotope values are suggestive of biogenic origin, whereas the heavier ones are probably fluid precipitated graphite.