Millimeter scale variations in the isotopic composition of vein sulphide minerals in the Kupferschiefer deposits, Lubin area, SW Poland†

Abstract

A slice of black shale rock cut by various metal sulphide veins of different generations from the Kupferschiefer deposits of Lubin, Poland was subjected to bombardment in a Laser Microprobe Combustion Reactor to produce SO2 for S-isotope analyses. The δ34S values ranged from−22 to−29 ‰ consistent with previous findings using conventional IRMS and attributable to primary generation of H2S by bacterial sulphate reduction. Systematic trends in δ34S values of a few per mil over distances of the order of mm attest to low temperatures of mineralization with accompanying change in the isotope composition of the fluids due to kinetic or equilibrium isotope fractionation. †Revised version of a paper presented at the VIII Isotope Workshop of the European Society for Isotope Research (ESIR), June 25 to 30, 2005, Leipzig-Halle, Germany