Sulfur isotope ratios of some Japanese skarn deposits

Abstract

Sulfur isotope study of some Japanese skarn deposits of ilmenite-series granitoid affinity shows that sulfide minerals have δ34S values ranging from +0.7 to -12.2%0. The remarkable negative δ34S trend in the studied deposits gives support to an idea by SASAKI and ISHIHARA(in press) that there is a distinct parallelism between the sulfur isotopic data of rock sulfur and ore sulfur from magnetite and ilmenite series of granitoids in Japan. δ34S values of 25 sulfide samples from the Tsumo mining area fall in a very narrow range from +0.7 to -1.7%0, irrespective of their various occurrences. δ34S values for sulfide sulfur of the Kawayama mine are negative and moderately large, suggesting contact metasomatic origin of the deposit. δ34S values of paired sulfide minerals are sometimes closer to each other than, or have in some cases reverse relation to, those expected from published experimental results. © 1979, GEOCHEMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN. All rights reserved.