Geochemical anomalies of a claypit area, Callaway County, Missouri, and related metabolic imbalance in beef cattle

Abstract

Geochemical studies of waters, alluvial deposits, and vegetation revealed that aluminum, beryllium, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, and nickel occurred in anomalously high concentrations in an area adjacent to a claypit in Callaway, County, Mo.The principal sources of these and other elements that were found in anomalous amounts are believed to be the clay, shale, limestone, coal, and pyrite that were exposed when the clay was mined.These geologic materials, although they contain normal concentrations of elements, constitute an unusually rich source (compared to typical soils) of certain elements for the plants and waters of the area.Pyrite, especially, affects the mobility of some of these elements because, by weathering, it produces sulf uric acid which increases the solubility of certain compounds.On the two ranches studied, young beef cattle exposed to anomalous element concentrations in the flood plain below the claypile experienced a severe interference syndrome due to an imbalance of minerals or other nutrients in their feed or water, or both.The disturbance in metabolism of cattle grazing on the pastures effected by the claypile was most similar to chronic molybdenosis.Imbalance of copper and molybdenum, in addition to those of sulfate, cobalt, and other substances, may have contributed to this syndrome.Anomalous concentrations of elements may exist at many other locations in Missouri and throughout the Midwest where similar materials are brought to the surface by clay and coal strip-mine operations (especially if pyrite is present).