Volcanos and gold

[blackchipjim]

I have a question about the recent news report that the volcano in Hawaii is raining tiny gems of olivine. Here is the question. If the volcano is spitting gems of olivine is it possible for gold to be there in theory?

 

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[cliff162]

If you have a metal detector on the beach...............

 

[smokeythecat]

Yes. I also read it is illegal to take rocks and soil out of Hawaii. I don't know if it's true or not.

 

[Rail Dawg]

Yes. I also read it is illegal to take rocks and soil out of Hawaii. I don't know if it's true or not.

You’re not supposed to (it’s Kapu... not allowed in Hawaiian) plus very bad luck to do so.

Pele the Goddess of the Volcano looks very unfavorably on those who choose to go against her wishes.

Lived out there a long time... not once did we consider taking any souvenirs lol.

 

[Boarteats]

I have a question about the recent news report that the volcano in Hawaii is raining tiny gems of olivine. Here is the question. If the volcano is spitting gems of olivine is it possible for gold to be there in theory?

Sure. Here’s a short discussion of the topic. UCSB Science Line.

Less well known is that gold can also be associated with intrusive igneous rocks. As it so happens, I was just panning a sample of (pulverized) decomposing gabbro.

 

[smokeythecat]

Granite and rhyolite will do the job too!

 

[Kray Gelder]

There are no known gold deposits in Hawaii. The islands formed over a "hot spot" in the earths crust. It is fresh magma coming directly from the earth's mantle. I would suppose that microscopically you could find molecules of gold, none would be economically recoverable. As a side note, if you go to Google Earth, you can see the chain of islands that have formed over this unmoving hot spot, over millions of years. They form a line, as the crust slowly creeps northward about as fast as your fingernails grow, a line that goes all the way to Alaska. As each island moves off of the hot spot, a new island forms. The Big Island is the newest of this chain of islands. The oldest ones have been eroded and lie beneath the ocean's surface.

 

[Kray Gelder]

The islands are basalt. There are no metamorphic rocks. There are no bodies of granite for magma to intrude into. There are no subduction zones. There aren't any geologic processes for concentration of minerals. The olivine crystals form directly in the magma.

 

[Capt Nemo]

I do remember that divers were harvesting deepwater coral and during the drying process they were harvesting gold from it. Probably fine dust.

 

[OwenT]

Since magma is just a melted jumble of whatever, when it comes out and forms a rock of course it’s going to have a couple part per billion of gold but because of the way that it forms the fold won’t be concentrated together and therefore not feasibly recoverable

 

[SaltwaterServr]

VHMS deposits possibly offshore, but an eruptive magma generally won't have much to work with. It requires a helluva lot of things to go right over a long period of time (generally) for a gold deposit to form. A better bet would be Mt. St. Helens or Yellowstone.