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Influence of sedimentary environments on sulfur isotope ratios in clastic rocks: a review

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Abstract

Strata-bound sulfide deposits associated with clastic, marine sedimentary rocks, and not associated with volcanic rocks, display distributions of δS34 values gradational between two extreme types: 1. a flat distribution ranging from δS34 of seawater sulfate to values about 25‰ lower; and 2. a narrow distribution around value δS34 (sulfide)=δS34 (seawater sulfate) −50‰, and skewed to heavier values. δS34 (seawater sulfate) is estimated from contemporaneous evaporites. There is a systematic relation between the type of δS34 distribution and the type of depositional environment. Type 1 occurs in shallow marine or brackish-water environments; type 2 occurs characteristically in deep, euxinic basins. These distributions can be accounted for by a model involving bacterial reduction of seawater sulfate in systems which range from fully-closed “batches” of sulfate (type 1) to fully open systems in which fresh sulfate is introduced as reduction proceeds (type 2). The difference in the characteristic distributions requires that the magnitude of the sulfate-sulfide kinetic isotope effect on reduction be different in the two cases. This difference has already been suggested by the conflict between δS34 data for modern marine sediments and laboratory experiments. The difference in isotope effects can be accounted for by Rees' (1973) model of steady-state sulfate reduction: low nutrient supply and undisturbed, stationary bacterial populations in the open system settings tend to generate larger fractionations.

Zusammenfassung

Schichtgebundene Sulfid-Lagerstätten in Begleitung von klastischen, marinen Sedimentgesteinen ohne Beteiligung vulkanischer Gesteine zeigen kontinuierliche Verteilungen der δS34-Werte zwischen zwei Extremtypen: 1. Eine flache Verteilung im Bereich von δS34-Werten des Seewasser-Sulfats bis zu Werten, die etwa 25‰ niedriger liegen. 2. Eine eng begrenzte Verteilung um den δS34 (Sulfid)-Wert=δS34 (Seewasser-Sulfat) −50‰ und asymmetrischer Verteilungskurve mit stärkerer Besetzung bei den schwereren Werten. Das δS34 (Seewasser-Sulfat) wird von gleichaltrigen Evaporiten abgeleitet. Es besteht eine systematische Beziehung zwischen der Art der δS34-Verteilung und dem Milieu des Ablagerungsraumes. Typ 1 tritt im marinen Flachwasser oder in brackischer Umgebung auf. Typ 2 ist charakteristisch für tiefe euxinische Becken. Diese Verteilungen können erklärt werden mit Hilfe eines Modells mit bakterieller Reduktion von Meerwasser-Sulfat in Systemen, die von völlig abgeschlossenen Sulfat-„Mengen“ (Typ 1) bis zu völlig offenen Systemen reichen, in die bei fortschreitender Reduktion frisches Sulfat zugeführt wird (Typ 2). Der Unterschied in den charakteristischen Verteilungen setzt voraus, daß die Stärke der kinetischen Sulfat-Sulfid-Isotopen-Wirkung auf die Reduktion in beiden Fällen verschieden ist. Dieser Unterschied wurde bereits wegen der Widersprüche zwischen den verschiedenen δS34-Werten heutiger mariner Sedimente und Laborexperimente vermutet. Der Unterschied in der Isotopen-Wirkung kann durch das Modell von Rees (1973) für kontinuierlich ablaufende Sulfat-Reduktion erklärt werden. Geringes Nahrungsangebot und ungestörte, gleichbleibende Bakterien-Populationen in offenen Systemen neigen zur Erzeugung stärkerer Fraktionierungen.

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Author notes

  1. S. W. Burnie

    Present address: Dept. of Geology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Geology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    H. P. Schwarcz & S. W. Burnie

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  1. H. P. Schwarcz
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  2. S. W. Burnie
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Schwarcz, H.P., Burnie, S.W. Influence of sedimentary environments on sulfur isotope ratios in clastic rocks: a review. Mineral. Deposita 8, 264–277 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00203208

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