Geological “Goldilocks Zone” for Metal Deposits Discovered at the Base of Earth’s Crust

https://scitechdaily.com ^ | February 1, 2022 | By CARDIFF UNIVERSITY

[Red Badger]

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?????????????................

[Blood of Tyrants]

So volcanoes transfer metals fron deep in the earth to the surface. Who didn’t know this?

[DannyTN]

The Dwarves dug too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dûm... shadow and flame." — Saruman

[subterfuge]

LOL. At least it’s researchers and not “scientists.”

[ClearCase_guy]

Well done.

[dangus]

Folks, THIS is ALSO why metal-based currency is a bad idea. One breakthrough, and BOOM! all the world’s gold becomes dirt cheap.

IT’S HAPPENED BEFORE! Before bauxite processing was possible, aluminum was crazy expensive, more valuable than silver and occasionally gold. Now, it’s a meme for cheap metal.

[Dr. Sivana]

I hope gold becomes dirt cheap. That makes for better circuit boards. The PC boards in the early ‘80s will outlast the newer stuff with cheaper and enviro-friendly materials.

[nascarnation]

Ooops there goes my Kruggerands....

[dangus]

Oh, yeah... it would be great! As long as we don’t base our economy on the price of gold.

[Sequoyah101]

OK, so we should look for critical metals in magma and basalt near volcanoes and lava flows?

Why is it pray tell, that we have not found such troves of metals in these places so far?

[getitright]

The peak of the Washington Monument is made of aluminum. It was at the time the largest chunk of aluminum of earth- and way more valuable than gold. It would be fun to see a price chart that extended back that far.

[SaxxonWoods]

A decent augur and you're business.

[far sider]

Goldilocks Zone? Sounds kinda racisty to me. A blond, white cis-female. Should called the RuPaul Zone nowadays

[Deaf Smith]

The reason the Washington Monument is topped with 100 oz of aluminum.

[Paal Gulli]

It's long been understood that occurrence of heavy metals and precious stones tended to coincide with the boundaries of cratons because they serve as a mechanism for the transport of material from inaccessible depths to shallower depths the (or surface). The formation of diamonds in particular is dependent on collisions between cratons because if depth alone were there source of all the pressure needed to transform Kimberlite into diamond, it would be too hot for diamonds to form. But collisions between cratons provide the needed pressure but without so much heat. South Africa's Kimberly mine, for instance, owes its existence to the Kaapvaal craton.

[The Duke]

"Folks, THIS is ALSO why metal-based currency is a bad idea. One breakthrough, and BOOM! all the world’s gold becomes dirt cheap."

Agreed. We establish a value for currency by simply having a minimum wage.

[Chode]

ummm, let’s say they hit the Motherload of all Gold deposits

over time, would that not effectively drive gold to zero if it became a common metal?

same wi all the talk about mining asteroids

[43north]

Most metal deposits occur where there is deposition of ancient hot water flows through cracks in the crustal rocks. The hot water dissolves the metals deeper in the crust and transports them towards the surface. As the water solution cools the metals are deposited closer to the surface. Oftentimes quartz is deposited along with the metals which is why prospectors seek out quartz “veins” in the rocks. This has been common knowledge in geology for eons so why is this news? Because some of these metals could be used for electric vehicles? Big deal.

[Brass Lamp]

Folks, THIS is ALSO why metal-based currency is a bad idea. One breakthrough, and BOOM! all the world’s gold becomes dirt cheap.

Right! Because non-metallic currencies don't inflate./s

The US dollar closed the 20th century at about 1/20th of the value it represented at the beginning. Most of that loss of value occurred after the dollar was unhitched from silver. I have a hard time believing that we were ever near discovering TWENTY times as much silver as we've collected in more than 7,000 years.

[M Kehoe]

And crude oil and gas are abiotic.

5.56mm