Scientists have discovered exactly how earthquakes trigger quartz into forming large gold nuggets — finally solving a mystery that's puzzled researchers for decades. Gold naturally forms in ...

When earthquakes squeeze quartz crystals, the mineral generates electricity that attracts gold particles. Pierre Longnus via Getty Images Earthquakes may help prospectors strike gold: When these ...

Scientists reveal that earthquakes generate electricity in quartz, explaining how enormous gold nuggets grow in deep rock ...

Larger nuggets were hard to explain: experts had theorized that gold nanoparticles within the fluid might aggregate into those bigger chunks within the quartz, yet it was unclear how.

These samples grew larger pieces of gold – upwards of 6000 nanometres – compared with 200 to 300 nanometres for uncoated quartz. Once gold started depositing on the quartz, it rapidly ...

But this theory doesn't explain why large—sometimes hundred-pound—gold nuggets accumulate within quartz veins; there simply isn't enough gold in Earth's upper layers to create massive chunks ...

It turns out that quartz is the only abundant mineral that's piezoelectric, meaning that it generates a charge when it's placed under strain. While you don't need to understand why that's the case ...

New reduced-intrusion related gold system, "Celestic," discovered at surface roughly 27 km from Valley and 5 km from existing ...

Put simply: “If you shake quartz, it makes electricity. If you make electricity, gold comes out,” of the hydrothermal liquid in Earth’s crust, Voisey tells Robin George Andrews of National ...

In quartz veins, gold preferentially solidifies onto existing gold deposits, forming large clusters of nuggets. (Image credit: Pierre Longnus via Getty Images) To test this idea, ...

Geologists have known for decades that gold forms in quartz with the help of earthquakes, but now they have worked out exactly how the setting and seismic waves combine to form large nuggets.