Raman Spectra of Natural Carbonaceous Materials and Associated Minerals From the Kular Range (Yakutia, Russia)

ABSTRACT Carbonaceous materials (CMs) in black‐shale rock specimens from the Kular Range, Sakha Republic, Yakutia, Russia, were investigated by micro‐Raman spectroscopy. Studies of CM in Permian rock samples from the Ulakhan‐Sis anticline collected from various boreholes in the Kular gold‐bearing area, and CM in nodular monazite (NM) samples from alluvial sediments of different creeks of the Yana River basin revealed similar spectral features. Micro‐Raman spectra excited at a wavelength of 532 nm exhibited characteristic CM bands together with bands of quartz, muscovite, anatase, rutile, carbonate, and pyrite. In the first‐order Raman spectra of CM, G‐bands were observed in the wavenumber range of ~1584–1597 cm −1 , and D1 bands at ~1347–1351 cm −1 for black shale specimens, whereas for NM, G bands appeared between ~ 1572 cm −1 and 1594 cm −1 , and D1 bands between ~1340 cm −1 and 1351 cm −1 . NM grains consist of monazite containing numerous mineral inclusions of various sizes (from several to 10–20 μm). The Raman spectral characteristics of these associated minerals are discussed. Temperature ranges for metamorphic transformations derived from the Raman data are estimated to be 300–360 °C for CM bedrock and 346–430 °C for CM NM.