Research Journal of Agricultural Sciences
An International Journal
Asbestos minerals are fibrous silicate mineral with different physical properties and chemical composition among the other silicate minerals. It is formed in the vicinity of ultrabasic intrusives by the hydrothermal alteration of rocks composed of iron and magnesium viz., peridotites, dunites, pyroxenes, or dolomites. They are classified into two groups as 1) Serpentine group and 2) Amphibole group. Serpentine group comprises of only crysotile variety of asbestos, whereas the Amphibole group consists of i) Amosite, ii) Anthophyllite, iii) Cocido lite, iv) Tremolite and v) Actinolite. The YSR district enriched with the asbestos minerals of crysotile variety. These deposits are confined to the Vempalle dolomite formation of Papaghni group of lower Cuddapah Supergroup of rocks. The source rock for the genesis of asbestos in the present study area is dolomite which is altered due to the dolerite intrusives in the form of sills in between the Vempalle formation of Papaghni group and Pulivendla formation of Chitravathi group. Asbestos is known to occur in number of localities in Kadapa, Kurnool districts of Andhra Pradesh, the stretch between Brahmanapalle-Lingala in Pulivendla taluka of YSR district is more important because of its of more economic potentiality of the deposit. The asbestos deposits of YSR district occur in Brahnmanapalle - Lingala over about 14 kilometers in a northwest-southeast direction. Brahmanapalle village of Pulivendla taluka is located 3 kilometer’s due west of Pulivendla town and the Lingala village lies 14 kilometers northwest of Pulivendla town. At present no mining activity is going along the Brahmanapalle-Lingala stretch due to exhaust of the mineral deposit. At the instance the asbestos deposit is at the verge of its exhaust and no mining work is going on at the entire 14 km stretch of earlier findings. Fresh exploration work is needed to be instigated to find more structures that control mineralization in this area.
Research Article | Published online : 21-Nov-2023