The electric growth of gold in earthquakes with Dr Chris Voisey (Part I)

About this episode

Dr Chris Voisey discusses the geology of gold deposits and the role of piezoelectricity in gold nugget formation.

Gold is one of the most chemically inert elements on the periodic table, and the fluids that carry it through the crust contain barely any of it… so how on Earth do we end up with enormous gold nuggets? Dr Chris Voisey, research fellow at Monash University, joins Wonder to talk about the geology of gold deposits, the mystery of how gold nuggets actually form, and the weird property of quartz crystals that might hold the answer: piezoelectricity. This is part 1 of two conversations we have with Chris – say tuned!! Find more from Dr Chris Voisey from his piece in The Conversation , 'How do you make a giant gold nugget? Take a vein of quartz, add a few thousand earthquakes'. Or check out his article in Nature Geoscience 'Gold nugget formation from earthquake-induced piezoelectricity in quartz '. Make sure you're following Wonder wherever you get your podcasts - and chuck that notifications bell on! We release a GeoCo News email newsletter. You wouldn't want to miss out... ⁠sign up here.⁠ Find us on Instagram & TikTok: @thegeoco Thanks to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Geological Society of Australia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for making this episode of Wonder possible! GeoCo comes to you from the traditional country…

People in this episode

Host: GeoCo

Guest: Dr Chris Voisey

Topics covered

• gold formation
• earthquakes
• geology
• piezoelectricity
• quartz crystals

Keywords

• gold nuggets
• earthquakes
• geology
• piezoelectricity
• quartz

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Monash University, The Conversation, Nature Geoscience

Places: Adelaide Plains, South Australia

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