Origin of a native sulfur chimney in the Kueishantao hydrothermal field, offshore northeast Taiwan

Analyses of rare earth and trace element concentrations of native sulfur samples from the Kueishantao hydrothermal field were performed at the Seafloor Hydrothermal Activity Laboratory of the Key Laboratory of Marine Geology and Environment,Institute of Oceanology,Chinese Academy of Sciences.Using an Elan DRC II ICP-MS,and combining the sulfur isotopic compositions of native sulfur samples,we studied the sources and formation of a native sulfur chimney.The results show,when comparing them with native sulfur from crater lakes and other volcanic areas,that the native sulfur content of this chimney is very high (99.96%),the rare earth element (REE) and trace element constituents of the chimney are very low (ΣREE