Kudurs (mineral licks) on ultrabasic rocks in the Altai Mountains, Russia

Panichev,Alexander Mikhailovich; Baranovskaya,Nataliya Vladimirovna; Chekryzhov,Igor Yurevich; Kalinkin,Yury Nikolaevich; Kholodov,Aleksei Sergeevich; Spandidos,Demetrios A.; Tsatsakis,Aristidis; Golokhvast,Кirill Sergeevich

doi:10.3892/wasj.2022.179

Kudurs (mineral licks) on ultrabasic rocks in the Altai Mountains, Russia

Authors:
- Alexander Mikhailovich Panichev
- Nataliya Vladimirovna Baranovskaya
- Igor Yurevich Chekryzhov
- Yury Nikolaevich Kalinkin
- Aleksei Sergeevich Kholodov
- Demetrios A. Spandidos
- Aristidis Tsatsakis
- Кirill Sergeevich Golokhvast
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Affiliations: Pacific Geographical Institute of The Far Eastern Branch of The Russian Academy of Sciences (FEB RAS), Vladivostok 690014, Russian Federation, Engineering School of Natural Recourses, Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk 634050, Russian Federation, Far East Geological Institute of The Far Eastern Branch of The Russian Academy of Sciences (FEB RAS), Vladivostok 690022, Russian Federation, Altai State Nature Biosphere Reserve, Gorno‑Altaisk 649000, Russian Federation, Far East Geological Institute of The Far Eastern Branch of The Russian Academy of Sciences (FEB RAS), Vladivostok 690022, Russian Federation, Laboratory of Clinical Virology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Greece, Laboratory of Toxicology, Department of Medicine, University of Crete, 71307 Heraklion, Greece, Siberian Federal Scientific Center for Agrobiotechnology of The Russian Academy of Sciences (SFSCA RAS), Krasnoobsk 630501, Russian Federation
Published online on: December 6, 2022 https://doi.org/10.3892/wasj.2022.179
Article Number: 2
Copyright: © Panichev et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

In the present study, the mineral and chemical compositions of kudurits consumed by wild ungulates and the chemical composition of forage vegetation near the water‑divide of the Abakan Range, Mountain Altai, Russia, were studied. It was found that the kudurits are represented by smectite‑vermiculite mineral associations with chlorite‑the products of hydrothermal transformation of metamorphosed ultrabasic rocks (serpentinites) following the intrusion of neighboring gabbroid dikes. Acid extracts (hydrogen chloride, pH 1.0) from kudurits most actively extract Ca, K, Mg, Fe and Na. In the composition of trace elements, Ba, Sr, Ni, Cu, Cr, Co, V, Zn and Li are most mobile. The comparison of the chemical composition of a kudurit and coprolite of red deer indicates that when mineral earth materials pass through the digestive tract out of all trace elements only about 0.4 g/kg of Na is reliably assimilated in the body, while kudurits simultaneously sorb and remove P, K, Mg and Ca. Chemical analyses of vegetation in places from which animals most often come to kudurs revealed high concentrations of rare earth elements. A rare‑earth‑sodium hypothesis of the cause of geophagy is developed, which may explain the majority of cases of regular consumption of earthy substances by animals and humans.

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