Sulfur isotopic composition has been measured on 30 granitoids and 11 gabbroids from the Cretaceous and Tertiary granitic terranes of Japan. The two series of granitoids, the magnetite-series and ilmenite-series, defined by Ishihara (1977), show two specific isotope trends. The magnetite-series granitoids all have positive 6 3 4 S (CDT) values from + 1 to + 9 % o, while the ilmenite-series rocks are dominated by negative values between -11 and + 1% o. The trend in the ilmenite-series is consistent with the thesis that the magma has been influenced by light biogenic sulfur from the continental crust. The inferred large scale magma-crust interaction in the ilmenite-series granitoids indicates that the emplacement of this series of magma has been governed by a stoping mechanism.
In contrast, the magnetite-series granitoids have little if any evidence for significant magma-crust interaction, indicating that the intrusion of this series of magma may have been more or less of fissure-filling type. Their trend towards positive c5 3 4S values (average ~ +5% o) argues for the introduction of some heavy sulfur, probably of seawater origin, into the mantle derived sulfur. This is most likely to occur in an arctrench system by the subduction of an oceanic plate which accompanies the sulfate-bearing pelagic sediments.
The isotopic data of gabbroids, mostly between -1 and + 3 % o, are close to the commonly assumed value for mantle sulfur. Nevertheless, the gabbroids from the magnetite-series granitic terranes tend to have higher 6 34 S value than those from the ilmeniteseries belts. It is inferred that the factors controlling the isotope characteristics of the granitoid sulfur have also been operative in these grabbroids at least to some extent.