Chemical composition of a Pliocene large mammal (mastodont ?) bone fragment from alluvial deposits at Grad, Northeastern Slovenia

Abstract

Upper Pliocene alluvial deposits outcropping at Grad, Northeastern Slovenia, contain bone fragments which very possibly belong to a mastodont. The bones are altered to apatite with outstanding abundance of As, Sr, Be, U, Y and Hg. Normalised REE abundance shows a consistent decrease of LREE to Eu, and then an increase of HREE, with almost equal normalised LaN and YbN values.