Gold seams form in a quake-powered flash

• Autores: Jeff Hecht
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2909, 2013, pág. 9
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Geologists have long known that gold seams must form when mineral-rich water flows through networks of cracks in rocks 5 to 30 km below the ground. But exactly how the gold builds up was unclear. Richard Henley of the Australian National University in Canberra and Dion Weatherley of the University of Queensland in Brisbane studied earthquake dynamics and concluded that quake-triggered pressure changes are much larger than first thought. Their model suggests that earthquakes can open cracks in the deep rocks at the speed of sound.