Gold nuggets have long fascinated scientists and prospectors alike, but the precise mechanisms that lead to their formation have remained elusive. Traditionally found in quartz veins deep ...

Earthquakes may cause gold nuggets to form in quartz by generating an electric field that attracts gold dissolved in fluid forced up from deep underground. Enormous gold nuggets are often ...

Gold naturally forms in quartz — the second-most abundant mineral in Earth's crust after feldspar. But unlike other types of gold deposits, those found in quartz often cluster into giant nuggets ...

Even though people have been hunting for – and finding – gold nuggets in the Earth for hundreds of years, we haven’t stopped too often to ask how they’re formed in the first place.

Geologists understand this process quite well, but large gold nuggets have been a bit of a mystery. Gold is only dissolved in natural fluids at around one part per million, so how does it ...