Scientists confirm that Gold seeps from Earth's core

Gold seeps from Earth's core

 Gold seeps from Earth's core: Scientists confirm

A new study has revealed that gold and precious metals seep from the Earth's core into the upper layers, eventually making their way to the surface during the formation of volcanic islands like Hawaii.

This theory stems from a three-year analysis of Hawaiian basalts, which originally formed from plumes of magma, or molten rock, rising from the ocean floor, according to a CNN report. The evidence confirms long-held suspicions among geologists: that Earth's molten core is not isolated, but rather likely seeps into the rocky mantle, the layer between the planet's thin crust and the core.

Strong Evidence

Niels Meissling, a geochemist at the University of Göttingen in Germany and lead author of the report published May 21 in the journal Nature, said, "About 40 years ago, the theory was first proposed that the core might be losing some of its material to the mantle, but the signals we've received so far have been very vague." He added, "Now, in my opinion, we have the first very strong evidence that some of the core ends up in the mantle."

Scientists already knew that most of the planet's gold—more than 99.95%, according to Meissling—resides in the molten core, along with other heavy elements such as platinum. With meteorite impacts in Earth's early history, a reservoir of these precious metals was created when the core formed about 4.5 billion years ago.

But this study suggests that at least a small amount of this gold has seeped to the surface, raising the intriguing possibility that if the seepage continues, more and more of this precious metal could migrate from the Earth's core to the crust in the future.

Messling said, "This is a new and very challenging method... We were able to measure ruthenium in rocks that were almost entirely ruthenium-free. In half a kilogram (1.1 pounds) of rock, the amount was less than a milligram—a needle in a haystack the size of a planet! This is very exciting—at least for a geochemist. It's been a long process, but very exciting."

What does this have to do with gold?

Messling explained that gold is chemically similar to ruthenium, so if the core is leaking ruthenium, it will also be leaking gold in similar quantities. However, he noted, "This would be a small amount. Even if scientists wanted to extract gold directly from the source, the core-mantle boundary, that's much deeper than current technology can drill." "In fact, the depth is about 236 times that of the deepest well ever drilled, such as Russia's Kola Superdeep Borehole, which reaches a depth of 12.3 kilometers," he continued.