Factors contributing to the geology and geochemistry of sulfide and sulfate deposition are discussed. The age curves of sulfur and oxygen isotopes in marine sulfate are assessed

Holser, W. T.

English

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Sulfide citeporeition is dominated by the bacterial reduction 
of marine wlfate to HS-, which is then se?questered as 
Fea-wS, end eventually reacts with mother eulfur saurce 
to b& permanently deposited 8s pyrite, F-. That shallow 
and shelf marine sites are mare important than the d e  w a  is 
shown by the fact that-the, flux rate froa, the dbellaw w i n e  
P O R ~  i'r 5.3 x lo8* moles per year whtweae that from the 
deep ocean sediments is about 0.7 x 10.8 (~qles per year- 
(Holsar, iciES). Gulfate depositian is dminated by the 
geological accidemts leading to evaporite formation that deposit 
gy@sum/anhydrite, halite, and potash farcies minerals (potassium 
minerals, primarily carnallite and sylvite), in tk>t osder. The 
special conditions of high net eveparation a d  semr-isolaticm 
(but not complete isolation) froar kea k k e r  input and reflux 
occur o n l y  sporadically in geological tiam, but when they do 
=cur they fill up any p r e - f w d  basins with these evaporite 
minerals at a catastrophically high dqmritiwral rate. 
The isotope ratio of sulfur in sea w a t e r ,  as recarded in the 
"age, curve" of sulfate in evaporite rocks, provides P running 
account of the relative importance of sulfide (heavier sulfate 
isotopes) and sulfate (lighter isotopes) in the world reservoirs. 
Comparison of sulfur and carbon tin carbonate) isotope cage cwwss 
reflects the balance of oxidation and reduction in these two 
global cycles. 
Berner, RIA., 1982. Burial of organic carbon and pyrite 
sul+ur in the modern ocean: its geochemical and 
environmental significance, her. 3. Sei., 
282: 451-473. 
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I., 19eO. The age curves of sulfur and oxygen isotopes in 
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Modelling t h e  n a t u r a l  c y c l e  of: su l fur  through geological 
ti-. I n  L u o ~ u ~ ~ Q ~  o f  the Blobel S u l f u r  C y c l e .  (W.E. 
iCrurng3ein and A, YU Lein, &e.), SCOPE, (mubmitted). 
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Chemical C y c l e s  in the  ivo tu t ion  o f  the Esrtb. (C. 
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L 
w a l e ,  U.T., m w d ,  J.X, ElcrcR4nrcie, POTm end SchidloroUti, 
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e~vaporites, Geoscience Canada R e p r i n t  Series, 
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mrklar. :, 4 L W .  end Evans, R, (eds. 3 , 1973 # w i n e  
&uaporitesr Origin, Diagenesis, and Geochewisfry. M d e n ,  
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miter, J., Holser, W.TIy and W i l g u s i ,  C-K., 1980. 
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51 
h h y d r i t m  
evprur 
Calcium rulfate 3-4 ti- 
c.Bo4 
CIlCiua 
mulhtr.2 w r r t r m  3 4  ti- 
c.Ba.2HoO 
salt 
N8Cl 10 t i m n  
Trchyhydr i to 
mnomium c8lciue chlaride 
MOCaCls. M O  
(In nature, t rhyhydr i t r  i m  found in  the ov.por8tion uquMce wheream 
i n  t h m  lab bi8choffiie tHgC1.6Ha) i s  produced at a concmntration 
Of &bat  70 t5.l.B 
8 y l v i t e  Kc1 
k r n r l  1 i to KMgCl s 
K i  m w r i  t o  
Kminite 
Bchomi t o  
Figure 1-15. cls see w a t e r  evepwatm s a l t s  come out of s o l u t i o n  
i n  t h i s  determined sequence. 
52 
METEOR I TE 
BULFIDe Sa-- I 
M C I F I C  IONEOUe 
SULFIDE S=. I 
HVDROTHERMCIL 
SULFIDE 8'- 
W C I T E R  
SULFhTE I SO,=- 
H - R X N E  EVCIPORXTE 
SULFhTE SO-' I 
CITMOSPHERIC 
SULFCITe 80-3. 
PREmENT FRESH WATER 
1 SULFATE 8 0 0 ~ -  PLaNTSr COCIL I 
PRESENT MCIRJNE MUD 
8ULFfDE 8'- I v I 
v- -- OEDIMENTCIRY ROCK SULFIDE S-- I 
c 
d 
53 
0KKK)R 
Figure 1-17. PhUrmragOic Mrfnr  wwwites md cubom 
deposition,Iaj Nacl and CaSR4 in marine 
'evaporites, scaled logarithmically; content in the present 
ocean is also shown. Data from fharkov for Cambrian through 
Pennsylvanian time, and f r o m  Hol5er et a1 . for t h e  Fermiai? 
through the Ccriozoic. Ib) Rate of deposition of 
Cc...-t. fc) Rate of deposition of Cora. Solid 
lines in (b)  and ( c )  are carbon in sediments present today on 
the continents, aggregated to epochs; dashed line in ( c )  is 
based mainly on deep-sea cores and aggregated by stages or 
substages (2). Shaded areas in ( c Z  are times of recognized 
anoxic events. Note that the scale i n  (cj is expanded relative 
to (b ) .  
Figure 1-18. Age curves of (a) sulfur isotopes i n  evaporite 
sulfate; (b) carbon isotopes in carbonate; (c) otrmtius, 
isotopes i n  carbonate and i n  fossil apatite! and (d) sea 
level. Shaclinp g i v e s  r a n g e  qf uncertainty? dashed lines, 
lack of data. William Holsw 
54 


Geology and geochemistry of sulfide and sulfate deposition

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