Is the Golden Nugget Paradox Coming to an End? Science Links Earthquake Activity to Solid Gold Deposit Formation

Gold is formed in space and underground

As the Science & Vie magazine of September 23, 2015 was relayed, gold would be the product of a collision between two neutron stars several billion years ago. This shock would have propelled “the equivalent of ten solid gold moons in the universe”, Specifies an article in the new obs. Thus, our famous terrestrial nuggets would come from space.

But the formation of gold nuggets is also a complex geological phenomenon. As stipulates The Guardiangold nuggets can also form from quartz veins, far from the surface of the earth, and “Along fracture lines that cross quartz”. A phenomenon that has so far had never been clearly explained by scientists.

Seismic waves to make gold

Indeed, researchers have conducted experiences in Australian laboratories, and have discovered that important seismic waves could be responsible for the formation of this precious metal. Indeed, these very important forces compress quartz, which contributes to generating electric fields, which lead to the formation of certain deposits.

“This mechanism can help explain the creation of large nuggets and highly interconnected gold networks commonly observed in fractures of the quartz veins”, write researchers in a study published by the scientific journal Nature Geoscience published on September 2, 2024.

To be clear, Dr. Christopher Voisey of Monash University in Melbourne and his team plunged pieces of quartz in water, where dissolved gold had been placed upstream. They then submitted this preparation to an earthquake simulation.

The researchers discovered that the effect of earthquakes could generate a fairly sufficient electric field in quartz to extract gold. “” “This produced nanoparticles of gold on the surface of quartz, and gold was formed again on the top”.

“” “Piezoelectric tensions being instantaneous and leaving no visible tracker, this may explain why gold nuggets often seem to “float” in quartz veins without obvious chemical or physical trap “concluded the researchers.

Piezoelectric theory to provide answers to the golden paradox

Indeed, if scientists have long experienced the general processes from which the golden nuggets are formed, their understanding is however limited to what they nicknamed the paradox of the golden nugget. How can large nuggets with such pure gold form, while fluids that infiltrate the quartz veins have such low gold concentrations?

“” “Piezoelectric theory is interesting because it would allow nanoparticles to be more concentrated, but also to explain why the first veins of quartz in the fault zones are generally sterile: the quartz veins must be there before being able to induce the piezoelectric effect”Explains the team of researchers.

Once completed, this study could help target the most promising gold deposits more precisely.