Gold from electricity? New research on earthquakes suggests it could be possible

For years, researchers have been puzzled by the widespread abundance of large gold nuggets in different locations. Now, a new study may provide an answer: The formation of large gold nuggets may be driven by a unique electrical phenomenon.

Piezoelectricity is a phenomenon that results from electrical polarization occurring within materials, including crystals such as quartz, when they are placed under mechanical stress. A simple example of this can be observed by rubbing two large pieces of quartz together in a dark room, which will produce short flashes of light from within the crystals.

According to new research, it is now believed that the formation of large gold nuggets may also be driven by piezoelectric discharges emitted from quartz, fundamentally challenging our current ideas about the formation of gold deposits.

Currently, the scientific consensus on the formation of gold is that it is deposited from hot, dilute fluids within quartz veins resulting from changes in temperature and pressure. Despite this view, the appearance of large gold nuggets has remained largely mysterious.

Quartz crystals with gold inclusions (Image credit: Robert M. Lavinsky/CC 3.0).

According to the results of the latest study, experiments involving quartz deformation and piezoelectric modeling now suggest a new idea: that the stress on quartz crystals during earthquake activity can produce sufficient electrical potential to cause gold to precipitate out of solution, which may explain the frequent association of gold with quartz, as well as the formation of large clumps in similar areas.

“Quartz is the only piezoelectric mineral abundant on Earth, and the cyclic nature of the earthquake activity that drives the formation of orogenic gold deposits means that quartz crystals in the veins will be subjected to thousands of episodes of deflection stress,” write the authors of the new paper, led by lead author Christopher R. Voysey and colleagues.

In their paper, Voysey and colleagues describe the use of deformation experiments involving quartz, coupled with piezoelectric modeling, “to investigate whether piezoelectric discharge from quartz can explain the widespread association between gold and quartz and the formation of gold clusters.”

In fact, the team found in their study that there may be enough pressure on quartz under these conditions to help facilitate the production of gold, sometimes in fairly large quantities.

In a recent research abstract, the team wrote: “We found that applying pressure to quartz crystals can generate sufficient voltage to electrochemically precipitate aqueous gold from solution, as well as to accumulate gold nanoparticles.”

“Gold formation by piezoelectric reactions is limited in speed because quartz is an insulator,” the study authors note. However, when combined with quartz’s conductivity, this led them to discover that the gold grains present appear to be a focal point for continued growth.

“We suggest that this mechanism could help explain the formation of both the large gold nuggets and the highly interconnected gold networks typically observed within quartz vein fractures,” the authors of the new study wrote.

The new findings may provide an important new perspective on the integrated relationship between quartz and gold, revealing piezoelectric properties as a potential driving factor.

By helping to shed light on the role of these electrical phenomena, the new research offers new implications for understanding the formation of gold deposits in mountain systems around the world, and provides new avenues for how earthquake-related factors contribute to unique mineral changes deep within the Earth's crust.

The team's research paper, “Golden cluster formation from earthquake-induced piezoelectricity in quartz,” was published in Nature Geoscience on September 2, 2024.

Micah Hanks is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of The Debrief. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on X: @MicahHanks.

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