Sulfur isotope characteristics of the Permian VHMS deposits in Tasik Chini district, Central Belt of Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

Sulfur isotope data from sulfide and sulfate minerals have been measured from the two typical examples of the Permianvolcanic-hosted massive sulfide (VHMS) deposits at the Tasik Chini district in the Central Belt of Peninsular Malaysia. In this study,we present the sulfur isotope data for 33 sulfide minerals and 23 barite samples from two VHMS deposits in the Tasik Chini district.Sulfides show a narrow range of sulfur values from 2.9 to +8.30 , which can be interpreted to be derived from a mixed sulfur sourceof reduced seawater sulfate with the possible addition of magmatic sulfur. Sulfate sulfur in barites yields a δ 34 S range between 11 and22 , which is comparable to that of Permian seawater sulfate. Sulfur isotope results obtained for the VHMS deposits in the Tasik Chinidistrict suggest that the source of ore fluids during the formation of the Tasik Chini VHMS deposit is a seawater-dominated fluid withprobably minor magmatic fluid input. This is similar to VHMS associated with ancient and modern submarine hydrothermal systems.