Alchemists and scientists alike have long sought to figure out exactly how gold forms beneath the Earth’s crust. Now they have new data that challenges pretty much everything we thought we knew about how veins of the precious metal come into being.
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00:00Alchemists and scientists alike have long sought to figure out exactly how gold forms
00:07beneath the Earth's crust.
00:09And while the latter are likely closer to figuring it out, researchers now say they
00:12have new data that challenges pretty much everything we thought we knew about how veins
00:16of the precious metal come into being.
00:18Gold is so rare because it doesn't dissolve very easily in water, meaning it's less
00:22likely to collect in one particular spot and form large nuggets, which is why large gold
00:26veins have baffled scientists for ages.
00:29But now they say quartz electrical voltage during seismic activity might be the cause.
00:34Gold veins are often found amongst quartz, which is made of silicon dioxide.
00:38When earthquakes occur, it causes stress on the quartz, which then produces an electric
00:42voltage.
00:43The researchers say that while the quartz is an insulating material, the gold that is
00:46accumulating nearby is a conductor, and that charge might not only jump to the gold, it
00:51could also cause an electrochemical reaction that pulls the gold out of a solution and
00:56into one particular area over time.
00:58They have now tested this theory in a lab, causing micrometer-sized gold grains to form
01:03out of a solution after just an hour of man-made tremors.
01:06They add that once an accumulation occurs, it increases the chances of more gold depositing,
01:11as the gold then behaves like another catalyst for further reactions.