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Earthquakes Deposit Gold In Fault Zones

Posted by samzenpus on from the shake-rattle-and-gold dept.

sciencehabit writes "Gold deposits may be created in a flash—literally. Along fault zones deep within Earth's crust, small cavities filled with fluids rich in dissolved substances such as gold and silicate minerals can expand suddenly to as much as 130,000 times their former size during a major earthquake, a new analysis suggests. In such circumstances, pressure drops accordingly, driving a process the scientists call flash evaporation. And when the pressure in the cavity suddenly drops, so does the solubility of minerals in the water there. Along with substantial quantities of quartz, large earthquakes could deposit as much as 0.1 milligrams of gold along each square meter of a fault zone's surface in just a fraction of a second Typical rates of seismicity along a fault, such as the San Andreas fault zone shown in the main image, could generate a 100-metric-ton deposit of gold in less than 100,000 years."

3 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. I smell a future James Bond plot... by jfalcon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Much like a cross between Goldfinger and View to a Kill.

    --
    boom goes the dynamite....
    1. Re:I smell a future James Bond plot... by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 5, Funny

      Man to God: What is a million years like to you, God?

      God: A million years? To me that's just like one of your seconds

      Man: I see! Then... What is a million DOLLARS like to you, God?

      God: I'm feeling you, man. You can guess, a million dollars to me is just like one of your pennies.

      Man: OK, God! Can I ask you for a penny, then?

      God: Sure! Just hold for a second...

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
  2. Re:Sounds like... by jellomizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dude, you found a way to popularize Fracking again!
    Natural Gas and GOLD!!!

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.