User:Vssun/draft

ഉഷ്ണനീരുറവകള്‍ അഗ്നിപര്‍വതങ്ങള്‍ എന്നിവയുടെ സമീപത്തായി ലോകത്തിന്റെ പലഭാഗങ്ങളിലും മൂലകരൂപത്തില്‍ സള്‍ഫര്‍ കണ്ടു വരുന്നു. Elemental sulfur can be found near hot springs and volcanic regions in many parts of the world, especially along the Pacific Ring of Fire. Such volcanic deposits are currently exploited in Indonesia, Chile, and Japan. Sicily is also famous for its sulphur mines.

Significant deposits of elemental sulfur also exist in salt domes along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and in evaporites in eastern Europe and western Asia. The sulfur in these deposits is believed to come from the action of anaerobic bacteria on sulfate minerals, especially gypsum, although apparently native sulfur may be produced by geological processes alone, without the aid of living organisms (see below). However, fossil-based sulfur deposits from salt domes are the basis for commercial production in the United States, Poland, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine.

Sulfur production through hydrodesulfurization of oil, gas, and the Athabasca Oil Sands has produced a surplus - huge stockpiles of sulfur now exist throughout Alberta, Canada.

Common naturally occurring sulfur compounds include the sulfide minerals, such as pyrite (iron sulfide), cinnabar (mercury sulfide), galena (lead sulfide), sphalerite (zinc sulfide) and stibnite (antimony sulfide); and the sulfates, such as gypsum (calcium sulfate), alunite (potassium aluminium sulfate), and barite (barium sulfate). It occurs naturally in volcanic emissions, such as from hydrothermal vents, and from bacterial action on decaying sulfur-containing organic matter.

The distinctive colors of Jupiter's volcanic moon, Io, are from various forms of molten, solid and gaseous sulfur. There is also a dark area near the Lunar crater Aristarchus that may be a sulfur deposit. Sulfur is also present in many types of meteorites