{ box.classList.add(“AskWg1_act”); }); btn.addEventListener(“click”, () => { box.classList.toggle(“AskWg1_act”); input.focus(); }); document.addEventListener(“click”, (e) => { if (!box.contains(e.target)) { box.classList.remove(“AskWg1_act”); input.value = “”; } });
Mount Erebus, the world’s southernmost active volcano on Antarctica’s Ross Island, emits approximately 80 grams of microscopic gold crystals daily.
Located on Ross Island in the Ross Sea, about 1,350 kilometers from the Geographic South Pole, Mount Erebus maintains a permanent lake of blazing lava. This lava lake constantly releases volcanic gases that carry microscopic particles of pure gold into the atmosphere, where they can travel vast distances across the frozen continent.
The scale of Mount Erebus’s gold emissions
The volume of gold released by the volcano is significant. Mount Erebus emits about 80 grams of gold each day, according to findings that date back to a 1991 study.
In the broader geological context, the presence of gold in volcanic emissions is a consequence of the complex chemistry occurring deep within the Earth’s crust. As magma rises, it interacts with surrounding rock and hydrothermal fluids. When these gases reach the surface and experience a rapid drop in pressure and temperature, the dissolved minerals often precipitate.
Researchers have noted that other volcanoes produce gold, though they lack the unique crystalline structure found at Erebus.
Atmospheric transport of gold crystals
The gold particles do not remain confined to the volcanic crater. Scientists have discovered that the volcanic gases carry these microscopic particles up to 1,000 kilometers away before they settle onto the Antarctic ice.
To understand this movement, a research team led by geochemist Kimberly Meeker of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in the US collected samples from three distinct areas: the plume of gas rising from the lava lake, the snow surrounding the crater, and the Antarctic troposphere at distances reaching 1,000 kilometers from the site. In all three sets of samples, they identified micron-scale particles of pure gold.
When viewed under an electron microscope, the particles appeared as intricate, faceted, almost perfectly geometric crystals.
Unsolved mechanisms of gold release
While trace gold has been detected chemically in samples from Kīlauea in Hawai’i, Etna in Italy, Augustine in Alaska, and El Chichón in Mexico, Mount Erebus remains an anomaly. It is the only volcano known to spew crystalline elemental gold particles into the atmosphere.
The process by which the gold escapes the magma remains a scientific mystery. Because the boiling point of pure gold is significantly higher than volcanic temperatures, the metal does not evaporate. It is thought to hitch a ride in volatile chlorine- or sulfur-bearing compounds that can exist in the hot volcanic gases. These volatile elements act as transport agents, effectively pulling the gold atoms out of the melt and into the gas phase.
More than three decades after the initial discovery, the exact mechanism that allows Mount Erebus to create and release these microscopic gold crystals remains one of the volcano’s most enduring mysteries.
Find more reporting in our Tech section.
