The Earthquake Connection

As earthquakes shake the ground, they send seismic waves that compress and deform surrounding rocks, including quartz. This beloved mineral possesses a fascinating property known as piezoelectricity, which allows it to generate voltage when under pressure. Voisey and his team hypothesized that this voltage—arising from tectonic stress—could catalyze chemical reactions that favor gold deposition.

A New Era in Gold Research

This electrochemical deposition process, likened to industrial methods for creating gold, could explain why some quartz veins are rich in gold while others remain barren. Understanding that gold tends to attach preferentially to metallic gold rather than quartz itself is critical for deciphering the formation of these valuable deposits. As Iain Pitcairn, an ore geologist at Stockholm University, aptly stated, “You need something that traps the gold that’s in the fluid quickly… or else it just dissipates away.”