Large gold nuggets can form thanks to ground movement caused by earthquakes, a new study suggests.
The article by researchers at Monash University in Australia was published this Tuesday (3) in Nature Geoscience.
The most common explanation for the formation of gold nuggets, which are often found within quartz veins in the ground, is that gold is deposited in cracks in the Earth’s crust as hot, water-rich fluids pass through them.
“As these fluids cool or undergo chemical changes, the gold separates and becomes trapped in quartz veins,” said Chris Voisey, lead author of the study. “While this theory is widely accepted, it does not fully explain the formation of large gold nuggets, especially considering that the concentration of gold in these fluids is extremely low.”
Scientists decided to test whether a specific characteristic could influence the formation of these large gold clusters: piezoelectricity — the ability of quartz to transform mechanical energy into electricity.
To test the hypothesis, the scientists subjected quartz crystals immersed in a gold-rich fluid to the same shaking conditions that an earthquake would cause in the ground.
“The results were striking,” said study co-author Andy Tomkins from Monash University’s School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment. “The stressed quartz not only electrochemically deposited gold onto its surface, but also formed and accumulated gold nanoparticles. Remarkably, the gold had a tendency to deposit on existing gold grains rather than forming new ones.”
This indicates that earthquake tremors may be responsible for the large accumulations of gold in the earth, producing large nuggets of the material, since electricity causes more gold to be deposited in the same place.
Two same-sex flamingos raise chicks after hatching eggs together
This content was originally published in Gold can be formed from electricity generated in earthquakes, says study on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
Charles Grill is a tech-savvy writer with over 3 years of experience in the field. He writes on a variety of technology-related topics and has a strong focus on the latest advancements in the industry. He is connected with several online news websites and is currently contributing to a technology-focused platform.
