 Occurrence
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| 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 mined in Indonesia, Chile, and Japan. Sicily is also famous for its sulfur mines.
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| 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. However, fossil-based sulfur deposits from salt domes are the basis for commercial production
in the United States, Poland, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| The distinctive colours 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.
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