Results of mineralogical–geochemical researches of two high-mountain kudurs within territory of Caucasus

The article focuses on the development of the reasons of the consumption by the wild herbivorous animals of the subsurface rocks in the apical part of Alous and Atamagu mountains, situated on the territory of the Caucasian State Biosphere Reserve. It was investigated the mineralogical and geochemical peculiarities of the eaten and not eaten rocks, the chemical composition of their water extracts and also the chemical composition of vegetation. It was determined that the consumed rocks mainly consist of the clay mineral illite, crystalline silica, hydrous micas and chlorites and are the derivatives of eolation of the Paleozoic granitoids in one case, and argillite–aleurolites of the Jurassic age in the second case. The chemical composition of the aqueous extracts demonstrated the relatively low contents of natrium and other macrocomponents in comparison with the non-consumed rocks, and also the increased content of lanthanides. The elicited facts are not compatible with the hypothesis that the pursuance for geophagia in animals at Caucasus can be connected with the peculiarities of elements change from lanthanide group in the organism.