There are many gold prospectors and miners who need to search for new gold deposits but in order to strike pay dirt one needs to have some basic knowledge about gold geology and the places that are more likely to contain gold ores and deposits.
Gold is a very scarce metal but it occurs in different kinds of rocks and also in geological environments. To understand gold geology one must know that gold deposits are formed by lode or primary deposits and placer or secondary deposits. The lode deposits are found in volcanic and sedimentary rocks due to the action of circulating ground water which in turn are driven by the magma. The heated water dissolves metals from the surrounding rocks and when it reaches cooler rocks above, the metallic substances precipitate to form veins or ores.
Placer deposits are also an important aspect of gold geology but there is no specific methodology for identifying gravel deposits in the rocks as the structure is highly complicated. This explains why there are still so many areas in the world which still contain some rich gravel deposits of gold. However, they may not be too obvious but the potential of gold finds still exists here. Gold geology also involves a good understanding of the past trends with respect to the areas of gold deposits, so that the prospector would do well to stay away from areas where previous excavations yielded zero results. Such information may lead to more efficient prospecting of gold.
To understand gold geology fully, one must have a detailed knowledge of the different types of placer deposits. The basic placer deposits are the beach placers or marine placers. We also have the Eolian placers. These are deposits where the gold has concentrated due to the action of the wind which has removed the other lighter elements present in the area.
There are naturally occurring deposits called glacier stream placers and Bajadas which are found in deserts. Hillsides have the elovial placers created due to the residual deposits of streams making a transitional creep. The residual placers or seam diggings are another type of placer deposits.
Geology
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Geology
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Geology