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Kudurs (mineral licks) in the Belukha Mountain area, Altai Mountains, Russia

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Abstract

Studies were carried out in the upper reaches of the Akkem River aimed at explaining why the local ungulates consume clay rocks common in the basin of the Yarlu River, a tributary of the Akkem River. Chemical composition of river and spring waters and mineral and chemical composition of clay rocks consumed by wild and domestic ungulates at kudurs were studied. The waters in the local watercourses are ultra-fresh, hydro-carbonate-calcium. Increased concentrations of rare-earth elements (REE) were observed in waters of the Yarlu River. Consumed clayey rocks (kudurits) are represented by finely dispersed quartz-plagioclase-mica-chlorite mineral associations — the products of transformation of shale rocks of the Early Paleozoic age. The comparison of the chemical composition of kudurits and coprolites of red deer showed that when the rocks pass through the digestive tract, out of all macroelements, only Na is reliably assimilated in the body in amounts from 0.1 to 0.3 g per kg of kudurit. In addition, kudurits act as sorbents, removing P, K, Mg, and sometimes Ca from the body. As part of micronutrients, they are most active in sorbing and removing REE from the body.

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taken from Panichev et al. (2018). See Table 2 for the description of water sample numbers

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the Russian Science Foundation (projects: 20-67-47005 and 20-64-47021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacific Geographical Institute of Far Eastern Branch, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia

    Alexander Panichev, Ivan Seryodkin, Tatyana Lutsenko & Raisa Makarevich

  2. Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk, Russia

    Nataly Baranovskaya

  3. Far East Geological Institute of Far Eastern Branch, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia

    Igor Chekryzhov & Alexey Kholodov

  4. Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia

    Elena Vakh, Olga Patrusheva & Kirill Golokhvast

  5. V.I. Ilichev Pacific Oceanological Institute of Far Eastern Branch FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia

    Elena Vakh

  6. Siberian Federal Scientific Center of Agrobiotechnology RAS, Krasnoobsk, Russia

    Kirill Golokhvast

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  1. Alexander Panichev
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  2. Nataly Baranovskaya
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  3. Ivan Seryodkin
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  4. Igor Chekryzhov
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  9. Alexey Kholodov
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  10. Kirill Golokhvast
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Correspondence to Kirill Golokhvast.

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Panichev, A., Baranovskaya, N., Seryodkin, I. et al. Kudurs (mineral licks) in the Belukha Mountain area, Altai Mountains, Russia. Arab J Geosci 15, 1284 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-022-10478-8

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