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Earthquakes Deposit Gold In Fault Zones
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."
Much like a cross between Goldfinger and View to a Kill.
boom goes the dynamite....
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.
There doesn't seem to be much point to the observation since the gold can dissolve again, perhaps even within a few minutes of the end of the earthquake (it is hot down there, especially after a big earthquake).
Which turns out to be worth $51,740 according to today's price of gold.
Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
When I was younger, we'd explore the old 1800's silver mines at Alta, Utah. When the old miners hit a fault line (underground), they'd span out and mine that fault for all it was worth. It was pretty neat for us finding a rock face perfectly smooth and straight (the fault), that had been stoped out a hundred years ago, miles underground. It was like going back in time. In hindsight, it was probably dangerous... Ah, youth.