Heavy sulfur-isotope enrichment in Middle Miocene onnagawa mudstones in the Green Tuff Region, Northeastern Japan

Abstract

Sulfur isotope ratios are analyzed for a series of mudstones in a successive section in the Taiheizan area in the central Green Tuff region, northeast Japan. The δ34S values for the Uyashinai Mudstone Member (Nishikurosawa stage), the Onnagawa Formation and the Funakawa Formation range from -45 to -14 ‰, -20 to +4 ‰ and -30 to -10 ‰, respectively. There is a marked positive shift in δ34S values at the Nishikurosawa/Onnagawa boundary and an upward δ34S-decreasing trend in the Onnagawa and Funakawa Formations. The present data provides evidence for environmental change in the form of stratification of the seawater, initiated at the Nishikurosawa/Onnagawa boundary and persisting during deposition of the Onnagawa Formation followed by gradual oxygenation during deposition of the Funakawa Formation.