How do you make a giant gold nugget? Take a vein of quartz, add a few thousand earthquakes
- Written by Christopher Voisey, Research Fellow in the School of Earth, Atmosphere, & Environment, Monash University
Bjorn Wylezich / ShutterstockHumanity’s fascination with gold stretches back thousands of years. Gold mining is described in ancient Greek and Roman sources, and gold rushes – especially in the 19th century – played a powerful role in shaping the modern world.
The dense, yellow metal is often found in veins of the rocky mineral...





