“Quartz veins have absolutely zero correlation with water flow. Science these days seems based on feelings, not facts. I suspect Autism has far more prevelance than we suspect.”
Yes and no. Most quartz veins are associated with igneous activity. However, you can have quartz dissolved and deposited in cracks and fissures in rocks. This is a solution precipitation and or replacement process dependent on water.
Perhaps water at 2000 degrees, which of course is impossible as a surface flow. Gold is also deposited in cracks in and around Quartz the same way. However that cannot occur near the surface. The only reason we find quartz with gold near the surface is it was not near the surface when it was formed, the mountain was eroded to that point.
So the presence of Quartz is not an indicator of water flow as the article says. More like super heated high pressure steam from deep in the planet core.