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

Christopher Voisey receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia. Humanity’s fascination with gold stretches back thousands of years.

Scientists are intrigued by how gold nuggets form, often tucked in quartz veins. The process seems to involve earthquakes and electricity.

When strained by earthquakes, underground networks of quartz veins can generate enough voltage to snatch gold from passing fluids, researchers report September 2 in Nature Geoscience. The findings ...

We can't usually feel them, but dozens of earthquakes occur every day—and some of them are using mundane minerals to make glittering gold. Researchers have found that tectonic shifts put just the ...