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Sulfur and carbon isotope compositions in the stratiform Zn-Pb-Cu sulfide deposits of the Rajpura-Dariba belt, Rajasthan, NW India: A model of ore genesis

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Abstract

The sulfur isotope composition of 86 sulfide minerals from the Middle Proterozoic, metamorphosed, stratiform, sediment-hosted Zn-Pb-CU sulfide deposits of Dariba and Sindeswar Kalan located within the Rajpura-Dariba belt in Rajasthan, NW India, have been determined. In addition, 16 carbonaceous and 2 carbonate rock samples from the ore zone have been analyzed for their Ctot and Corg contents and carbon isotope compositions. The sulfur isotope compositions range from 9.1‰ to −6.7‰ (mean value of 1.9‰). Increasing δ34S values stratigraphically upward are observed, particularly for pyrite and pyrrhotite suggesting a syngenetic origin for the sulfur. No marked lateral isotopic variations or isotopic variation in minerals from successive laminae in banded ore samples occur. Fractionation of sulfur isotopes between coexisting sulfides suggests that the original isotopic pattern was basically preserved during the amphibolite-facies metamorphism suffered by the deposits. Corg in carbonaceous rocks ranges 0.5–9.3 wt%, with δ13C values between −21‰ and −31‰ (mean of −25.4‰) in keeping with the biogenic derivation of the carbon. Recrystallized dolostones have δ13C values close to −14.4‰

Geological evidence and isotopic features are consistant with the following genetic scheme: (a) base-metal ores along the belt formed from geothermal emanations carrying H2S, produced by the chemical reduction of seawater sulfates and leaching of mafic volcanics, in a semiclosed (with respect to SO4), shallow-water, rift-related basin with high biological activity; (b) pyrite and pyrrhotite formed diagenetically by bacterial reduction of sulfate in pore seawater in a system open to H2S, thus bringing about the gradual enrichment of 34S in these minerals stratigraphically upward; and (c) northward in the belt, at Sindeswar Kalan, the basin of ore deposition was relatively more open.

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  1. Department of Geology, Delhi University, 110007, Delhi, India

    M. Deb

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Deb, M. Sulfur and carbon isotope compositions in the stratiform Zn-Pb-Cu sulfide deposits of the Rajpura-Dariba belt, Rajasthan, NW India: A model of ore genesis. Mineral. Deposita 21, 313–321 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00204350

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