Composition and crystal parameters of carbonate-apatites from animal teeth and bones and from phosphate rocks of the ocean bottom

Samples of recent to Miocene fish and marine mammal bones from the bottom of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and Miocene Maikop deposits (Transcaspian region) are studied by X-ray diffraction technique combined with chemical and energy-dispersive analyses. Changes of lattice parameters and chemical composition of bioapatite during fossilization and diagenesis suggest that development of skeletal apatite proceeds from dahllite-type hydroxyapatite to francolite-type carbonate-fluorapatite. It is assumed that jump-type transition from dahllite to francolite during initial fossilization reflects replacement of biogeochemical reactions in living organisms, which are subject to nonlinear laws of nonequilibrium thermodynamics, by physicochemical processes according to the linear equilibrium thermodynamics.

Contents of major components, U, and Th in bones and bone debris

Uranium and thorium contents, as well as their distribution patterns have been studied in biogenic phosphates from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Differently lithified fish remains (bones, scales, teeth) and marine mammal bones (ribs, vertebras, earbones) collected from both reduced shelf sediments and oxidized pelagic ones have been analyzed. U content in the material varies from 0.7 to 700 ppm, and Th content - from <0.5 to 14 ppm. U/Th ratio varies from 0.16 to 400. Contents of both elements increase with lithification of biogenic phosphates. U concentration is more intense on shelves, whereas thorium concentration increases in pelagic areas. Partial positive correlation of U and Th with Fe and negative correlation of U with organic carbon are noted. The latter corresponds to higher lithification of biogenic phosphates. Calcium phosphate transformed from hydroxyapatite to fluorcarbonate-apatite is the main carrier of U, while transformed organic matter is a minor agent. Thorium is mainly bound with Fe.

Bones collection of Lena Delta reserve Tiksi, Appendix 4-6

Remains of large Pleistocene mammals always attract attention. Scientists and local people who work and live in the Laptev Sea Region find and collect various bones and fragments of large mammals. Some of them are brought to the Lena Delta Reserve. Mammal remains of the "Mammoth fauna" are the most common artifacts in the paleontological collection of the Lena Delta Reserve museum. The collection includes single bones, fragments of skeletons, bones with soft tissues and hair of Late Pleistocene and Holocene specimens. It consists of nearly 300 samples. The museum was created thanks to the enthusiasm of Dr. A. Gukov, the present director of the reserve. Employees of the reserve, school teachers, pupils and other interested people also contribute. The first specimens were collected in 1985. They were bison bones collected by Yarlykov Yu. A. on Makar Island (Yana Delta Region) near the Makar polar station; Efimov S. N. found horse and reindeer bones on the Myostakh Cape, Bykovsky Peninsula (Lena Delta Region). Mammoth and reindeer bones were collected by Gukov A. Yu. during the same year on Kurungnakh-Sise Island. Over more than 20 years many people have presented their finds to the reserve. These are samples from different islands of the Lena Delta Region, from the New Siberian Islands, from the Yana Delta Region, and from the southern coasts of the Laptev and East Siberian Seas. Most of the collection consists of bones from the Bykovsky Peninsula (about 100 samples) as well as from the islands of the Lena Delta Region. Unfortunately not all samples have exact information about their origins or is geological information available for all finds. It is typical for this exhibition that the finds were collected by amateurs (not during geological or paleontological expeditions). A considerable portion of the collection consists of finds of Dr. A. Gukov from different locations within the Lena Delta Reserve. In 2001 Dr. A. Sher delivered about 40 samples from the Bykovsky Peninsula (Mamontovy Khayata) to the museum.