Researchers ‘Struck Gold’ in Hawaiian Volcanoes, Say Earth’s Largest Gold Reserves Are Hidden Deep in the Ground

For decades, humankind has scoured the Earth for gold. From ancient civilizations to modern economies, gold has been a symbol of wealth and power. Now, in a stunning new revelation, experts have discovered stunning evidence that the Earth’s core, a huge molten region 3,000 kilometers below the surface, is oozing gold and other precious metals into the mantle above, as per Nature.

This breakthrough comes from the unlikely source of volcanic rocks found on the islands of Hawaii. These rocks, released from deep mantle plumes during volcanic eruptions, contain unexpected isotopic signatures that experts say could only originate from the very boundary between Earth’s core and mantle. Dr. Nils Messling from the University of Göttingen’s Department of Geochemistry shared, "When the first results came in, we realized that we had literally struck gold. Our data confirmed that material from the core, including gold and other precious metals, is leaking into Earth's mantle above," as per The Independent.

The discovery was made possible with the help of new techniques developed by the research team, which allowed them to detect tiny anomalies in isotopes of ruthenium (Ru), which is a precious metal and, like gold, is highly concentrated in the Earth’s metallic core. Especially, 100Ru is prominently more abundant in the core than in the mantle. The increased levels of 100Ru in Hawaiian basalt rocks served as a geochemical fingerprint, indicating that the core is the main source indeed. As if this were not enough, the rocks also showed unradiogenic tungsten (W) isotope ratios, further cementing the rumor of core-derived material, as per Nature.

These combined isotopic signals are the first solid proof of Earth’s core contributing to volcanic rock composition, a discovery that experts have suspected for a very long time but never proven. Professor Matthias Willbold, co-author of the study, shared, "Our findings not only show that Earth's core is not as isolated as previously assumed. We can now also prove that huge volumes of superheated mantle material—several hundred quadrillion metric tons of rock—originate at the core-mantle boundary and rise to Earth's surface to form ocean islands like Hawaii," as per Phys.Org.

Intriguingly, Messling exclaimed, "Whether these processes that we observe today have also been operating in the past remains to be proven. Our findings open up an entirely new perspective on the evolution of the inner dynamics of our home planet," as per Phys.Org. An important point to note is that some of this material carries with it not just thermal energy, but also traces of gold, ruthenium, and possibly other rare elements. This discovery could literally mold our basic understanding of how Earth’s internal system functions and how precious metals are distributed on our planet.