Gold has long been valued for both its rarity and aesthetic appeal, serving not only as a medium of exchange or as jewelry but also as a catalyst in chemical reactions and an electrical conductor in modern technology. It is usually found as nuggets in quartz veins, crystallized silicon dioxide, and the process of its formation has been debated by scientists for many years.
However, a recent study titled “Formation of gold nuggets from earthquake-induced piezoelectricity in quartz,” which was published in 2008 Nature Geology, It has been suggested that earthquakes may play an important role in the formation of these valuable minerals.
“The standard explanation is that gold precipitates from hot, water-rich fluids that flow through cracks in the Earth’s crust,” said Dr. Chris Voisey, lead author of the study.
“As these fluids cool or undergo chemical changes, the gold separates out and becomes trapped in quartz veins,” he said.
Despite its widespread acceptance, this theory fails to explain the formation of large gold fragments, especially given the extremely low concentrations of gold in these fluids.
“The strained quartz not only electrochemically deposited gold on its surface, it also created and accumulated gold nanoparticles,” said co-author Professor Andy Tomkins, from Monash University’s School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment.
“What was remarkable was that the gold tended to deposit on existing particles rather than forming new ones.”
This is because quartz is an electrical bad conductor, whereas gold is a good conductor.
Once some gold is deposited, it becomes a focal point for further growth, effectively coating the gold particles with more gold.
“Our discovery provides a plausible explanation for the formation of large gold pieces in quartz veins,” said Dr. Voisey.
These findings open up new avenues of possibilities in understanding the formation of gold nuggets, showing a possible connection between seismic activity and the production of these precious metals within quartz veins. This could shed a new light on the geological processes that generate one of the world’s most precious materials.