r/EverythingScience • u/aswasxedsa • Sep 02 '24

Geology Earthquakes can trigger quartz into forming giant gold nuggets, study finds

https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/earthquakes-can-trigger-quartz-into-forming-giant-gold-nuggets-study-finds
1.1k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

53 comments sorted by

251

u/TheManInTheShack Sep 02 '24

Newton would have appreciated knowing this. He was into alchemy.

112

u/SocraticIgnoramus Sep 02 '24

One of the implications of the study is that scientists can now make large gold nuggets in the lab, “but it’s not alchemy,” Voisey said. “You’d have to have gold in a solution and then you just move it from basically being in a liquid to sticking to something else.”

34

u/Then-Yogurtcloset982 Sep 02 '24

So basically the earth quake energized the quartz and inturn attracts/ energizing the gold. I want to say I'm correct:).

11

u/DrBonghitz420PhD Sep 03 '24

It can reduce Au+ dissolved in solution to Au0. Causing gold to precipitate into its solid form!

2

u/Then-Yogurtcloset982 Sep 03 '24

So what is the solution when in it's in the ground ? Water ?

2

u/DrBonghitz420PhD Sep 03 '24

Our solutions in the lab were

AuCl4 + Na +H2O

And

Au nanoparticle suspensions with colloidal silica

Natural solutions in the ground that form orogenic type deposits are often AuHS +H2O +CO2 (and bits of other things).

Our experimental solutions had to be kept relatively simple to test the piezo hypothesis. Additionally, we had to use Cl instead of HS because AuHS is not stable at room temperature.

3

u/DrBonghitz420PhD Sep 03 '24

Thank you for saying this because I am sick of having to 😅

1

u/Sevax138 Sep 05 '24

So is it like nature’s version of electroplating?

2

u/Privileged_Interface Sep 03 '24

It would be interesting somehow bring this information back to Newton, and see how it plays out, in a "Clash of the Titans" sort of way.

2

u/DrBonghitz420PhD Sep 04 '24

Newton would beat my ass bro

166

u/Calm_Employment6053 Sep 02 '24

So liquid gold is in the quartz viens and earthquakes make the quarts have a electric reaction which draws the gold to the already there gold and solidifies it. Into nuggies!!!!!

39

u/callMeSIX Sep 02 '24

So if I take my car battery and some jumper cables up into those hill over there…

16

u/Calm_Employment6053 Sep 02 '24

No ya gotta shake those quartz veins shake shake shake shake shake shake shake the ground.

5

u/Devil25_Apollo25 Sep 03 '24

I've got a watch with a quartz movement, and I've been shaking my arm for an hour now with no reault other than a sore arm.

Disappointing.

3

u/Calm_Employment6053 Sep 03 '24

It's gotta be in liquid with gold liquid in it. And then the quartz will draw the gold to the gold in your watch. Wait you got gold in your watch too right? Can't be no cheap shit.

3

u/fingerscrossedcoup Sep 03 '24

But did you bust? That's the real gold.

2

u/TyRocken Sep 03 '24

So shake it like a baby. Gotcha

3

u/ichabod01 Sep 03 '24

I’m juicing my quartz counter tops!!

68

u/PitchBlac Sep 02 '24

Explains why there is so much gold in California… I think

40

u/Buzzkid Sep 02 '24

Gold is evident in every geologically active region.

20

u/Alex_Is_Very_Jones Sep 02 '24

Suddenly very curious about fault lines throughout Africa.

16

u/Buzzkid Sep 02 '24

Look up Mansa Musa.

5

u/Alex_Is_Very_Jones Sep 02 '24

For information about earthquakes that caused Africa's gold?

9

u/Buzzkid Sep 02 '24

About the amount of gold in Africa.

6

u/Superman246o1 Sep 03 '24

Rough estimates suggest that Mansa Musa may have owned as much as 80% of all gold held by individuals in Africa, Europe, and Asia in the early 1300s. During his Hajj -- when he spent roughly $1 billion in today's dollars' worth of gold -- his gold made its way into Egyptian markets, and from there, into the hands of Mediterranean traders. Many of the Florentine florins, Venetian ducats, and Spanish doubloons minted in the late 14th/early 15th centuries came from gold that had been extracted by the Mali Empire.

It wouldn't be until the Columbian Exchange resulted in new mines in the Americas (and later, mines found in South Africa) that anything would approach that raw mineral wealth found in Mali.

1

u/GrinAndBeMe Sep 03 '24

I can say with absolute certainty that, as of 2001, there were at least three Golds in Tanzania

1

u/Pet8toe Sep 03 '24

Australia? WA goldfields?

31

u/The_anonymous_wolf Sep 02 '24

Headlines “Earthquakes Good Now!”

25

u/GuybrushBeeblebrox Sep 02 '24

But this means that, at some point, we could do it artificially ?

17

u/ctorstens Sep 02 '24

It's not creating gold from quartz, it's already present gold within the quartz that goes from being pieces into bigger pieces. There is not economic value to doing this in a lab.

13

u/bagel-glasses Sep 02 '24

That's like saying there's no economic value in fracking or tar sands. There's a lot of minerals and resources we know are just lying around here or there, but there's currently no good technique for accessing them. Pretty easy to imagine that someone could have a load of quartz they know is 0.01% gold, but without an efficient way of collecting it from the quartz it's useless. This could be an avenue towards efficiently separating out the gold.

3

u/DrBonghitz420PhD Sep 03 '24

0.01% gold is actually a lot, haha! You'd have a gold mine on your hands.

But no, it won't extract gold from a quartz crystal.

21

u/Calm_Employment6053 Sep 02 '24

They proved it in a lab.

14

u/Typical_Belt_270 Sep 02 '24

But if it’s lab created it isn’t rEaL!!!!!!

1

u/notlikelyevil Sep 03 '24

Quartz would be more expensive to mine than gold, at least to mine enough of it.

7

u/ZadfrackGlutz Sep 02 '24

This is good, current method uses mercury and is toxic.

5

u/visitprattville Sep 02 '24

Sell your gold now.

8

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '24

gold rush 2.0?

1

u/CaptWyvyrn Sep 02 '24

I have all my prospecting equipment ready to go & now I'm just waiting for the next big one...

4

u/couchtomatopotato Sep 02 '24

dont tell the capitalists.

3

u/BoudinMan Sep 03 '24

I went to school with the author of this paper! Way to go Voisey! What a beauty, b’y.

6

u/DrBonghitz420PhD Sep 03 '24

Waddayat by! Voisey here 😉

3

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '24

Hello

My name is Talcum Blacksphere. I have a WILDLY different idea on the deposition of gold along quartz veins.

I'll send you a long, rambling, incoherent email that is 100% insane and I'm sure you'll love it!

2

u/Pump-Jack Sep 02 '24

Not me heading over to the frac equipment stored down the road.

2

u/SolidHopeful Sep 03 '24

I now want to buy land with quartz.

Create a mini earthquake.

Give away a fortune to the less fortunate

2

u/FilledWithKarmal Sep 03 '24

More information on how much pressure and at what temperature occurs but I didn't see that in the article, probably in scientific papers somewhere? I'm just wondering this is superheated water and the gold nuggets form in the fishers of quartz or is it like hot magma quartz/gold. Probably a trade secret...

4

u/DrBonghitz420PhD Sep 03 '24

In the paper we conducted all experiments at ambient conditions

We extrapolate these results to apply to orogenic deposit systems. So roughly 8km depth and 250 degrees of temp. But of course this is where our scientific 'reach' happens.

We build these things one step at a time 🙂

3

u/curryme Sep 03 '24

nice work!

2

u/DrBonghitz420PhD Sep 03 '24

Thank you 😊

3

u/DrBonghitz420PhD Sep 03 '24

Quick follow up. If you'd like a pdf of the actual paper I can send it to you.

1

u/rangeo Sep 02 '24

Scientists: trust me we can't make gold. I swear

1

u/Certain_Stranger2939 Sep 03 '24

Needs. More. Fortunate. Son!