Earthquakes play vital role in gold nuggets formation: study

This discovery challenges the conventional understanding of gold formation.

Gold has long been prized for its rarity and aesthetic appeal, used not only as a medium of exchange or as a piece of jewelry, but also as a catalyst in chemical reactions and an electrical conductor in modern technology. Gold is usually found as lumps of gold in veins of quartz, a crystalline silicon dioxide, and scientists have debated its formation for many years.

However, recent research, “Gold nuggets formed by earthquake-induced piezoelectricity in quartz,” published in Nature Geoscience, suggests that earthquakes may play an important role in the formation of these valuable gold nuggets.

“The standard explanation is that gold precipitates from hot, water-rich fluids as they flow through cracks in the Earth’s crust,” said Dr Chris Voysey, lead author of the study.

“When these fluids cool or undergo chemical changes, the gold separates from them and becomes trapped in the quartz veins,” he added.

Although widely accepted, this theory fails to explain the formation of large gold masses, especially given the extremely low concentration of gold in these fluids.

“The stressed quartz not only electrochemically deposited gold on its surface, but also formed and aggregated gold nanoparticles,” said study co-author Professor Andy Tomkins, from Monash University’s School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment.

“Surprisingly, the gold had a tendency to precipitate onto existing gold grains rather than forming new ones.”

This is because quartz is an electrical insulator, while gold is an electrical conductor.

Once some gold is deposited, it becomes a focal point for further growth, effectively “coating” the gold grains with more gold.

“Our discovery provides a plausible explanation for the formation of large gold nuggets in quartz veins,” said Dr. Voisy.

These results open up new avenues for understanding how gold nuggets form, and show a possible link between seismic activity and the generation of these precious metals within quartz veins. This could shed new light on the geological processes that generate one of the world’s most valuable materials.

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