Occurrence of Kyanite in the Nearshore Sediments of North Coastal Andhra Pradesh and its Implication

The heavy mineral assemblage in the nearshore sediments of north coastal Andhra Pradesh includes ilmenite, garnet, sillimanite, monazite, zircon, pyroxenes etc., and is derived from Eastern Ghat Group comprising dominantly khondalites and charnockites. The assemblage also consists of minor to accessory amounts of kyanite that has not been reported so far from the Eastern Ghat Group. Kyanite bearing rocks are reported from the Archaean schists of the Khammam District of Andhra Pradesh along the Godavari drainage basin.. The evidences available so far suggest that the rocks from Godavari drainage.basin are the sources for kyanite. However, further work is needed to confirm whether these rocks in the Godavari drainage basin or hitherto unreported kyanite bearing rocks in the other drainage basins constitute the provenance.