'Granite' is being indiscriminately and extensively exploited and quarried without a detailed study of the physicomechanical and intrinsic properties of granites. As such, huge blocks of granites are being cut and efforts are being made to export them. Since the business entrepreneurs are insisting on the database tag to be attached with each block of granite that is being exploited and exported, the need to study their physicomechanical properties has become important. As a followup to this observation, a study of the working quarries of black granites (dolerties) and grey granites undertaken in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh, suggested their suitability as dimensional and decorative stones. The study evaluated the specific gravity of the stones ranging from 2.64-2.95 with low porosity, compressive strength ranging between 585.33 and 1,930 kg/cm² in dolerites, 750-1,150 kg/cm² in granites and 400-1,600 kg/cm in granite gneisses, and modulus elasticity ranging from 3.5-57´ 10 kg/cm². The results are very much useful to evaluate their suitability as dimensional and decorative stones.

In recent times, the granite industry has not only attracted the attention of promising entrepreneurs but also the eminent academicians with regard to the exploration and exploitation of the naturally occurring hard rocks and their variations for utility as building and decorative stone types. The polished granites are the most important decorative and ornamental stones since they possess unique properties and aesthetic beauty. Thus, the final superiority of the product will necessarily depend upon proper selection of the deposit, namely, mineralogy, texture, structure and genetic behavior, which are the essential constituents of the intrinsic features and other physicomechanical properties of the rocks.

The term `granite' is used in the industry for various types of hard and naturally occurring rocks. These rocks possess common rock forming minerals, such as quartz, feldspars, plagiocalse, micas, amphiboles and pyroxenes. Appropriate terms are used in the industry based on their color, texture and source of their genetic behavior, with their trade and geological names, since the rocks are aggregates of various minerals which help to understand the quality of the rock. These properties are of significance in delineating them as dimensional and decorative stones.

The granites, in terms of their physicomechanical properties depend upon: specific gravity, absorption, density, compressive strength, tensile strength, modulus elasticity, anisotropy and protodyknov test constitute the engineering properties of rocks. Correlation of the physicomechanical properties along with the intrinsic properties of these rocks can help evaluate their suitability as dimensional and decorative stones. These properties, if comprehended, can help in the preparation of the database tag at the exploration stage itself, so that the business entrepreneurs are not put to hardship at a later date, i.e., at the time of lifting the consignment.

Earth Sciences Journal, Physicomechanical Properties, Decorative Stones, Ornamental Stones, Ferromagnesian Minerals, Mineralogical Compositions, Geotechnical Parameters, Universal Testing Machine, Ultrasonic Longitudinal Velocities, Microcline Granites, Dimensional Stones.