DISTRICT SURVEY REPORT OF SIVAGANGI, TAMILNADU,

INTRODUCTION:

Sivaganga is the district headquarters of District. It is bounded by district on the Northeast, Tiruchirapalli district on the North, district on South East, Virudhunagar district on South West and District on the West. It comprises Eight taluks viz. Sivaganga, , , , Ilayangudi,

Thiruppathur, , Singampunari with Sivaganga as headquarters. It encompasses an area of about 4189 sq km.

GEOLOGY : In India, the occurrence of graphite ore is limited to the States of

Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Tamilnadu. The graphite deposit at Sivaganga in

Tamilnadu is the best among all other occurrences. The Department of

Geology and Mining (DGM), Tamilnadu carried out Sivaganga graphite project investigation at various stages from 1968 to 1971. The investigation work involved systematic mapping, trenching, and drilling. The deposit in this area shows pinching and swelling nature and the average width varies from 3 to

18 meters and extends upto 5.6 kms.

The promising graphite occurrence is located about 7 kms. North-West of

Sivaganga town and is approachable by a metal road from Pudupatti on Sivaganga- road. The graphite bearing quartzite and quartrtzofelspathic gneisses have been noticed discontinuously for a stretch of about 18 kms from the village of Komalipatty in the East to Poovanthi in the West and it trends N80 0 E – S80 0 W . Graphite occurrences at Sivaganga may perhaps be attributed to two different processes. The regional metamorphism of carbonaceous impurities in the original argillaceous sediments may be one of the causes for the formation of the graphite in this area. In addition, the contact metasomatism of the earlier calcareous sediments may also have yielded graphite in this area. The shear, fractures and joints seem to have provided channel ways to the younger instrusives like granites and pegmatites to traverse the earlier rocks and produce the resulted effects. The intrusions which are contemporaneous with the shearing and may have aided the formation of the graphite within the shear zone. The contact metasomatic effects are also evidenced by the distinctive high temperature non-22 metallic mineral assemblages namely wollastonite, epidote, grassularite, andradite, diopside etc.

GEOMORPHOLOGY

Geomorphology is shape or configuration of the earth’s solid surface above and below ocean level and it involve the classification of landforms and the processes by which they develop. In other words, geomorphology is the study of landforms and landscapes, including the description, classification, origin development and history of planetary surfaces. In this present study has interpreted landforms such as alluvial plain, water body, piedmont zone, plateau, structural hills and habitation mask.