Scientists from the University of Gottingen have unveiled that Earth’s core is not the isolated, impenetrable fortress we once thought. New analysis of isotopes from volcanic rocks reveals a tantalizing reality: vast reserves of gold and other precious metals are slowly leaking towards the Earth’s surface.*
This revelation stems from the study of isotopes in volcanic rocks that erupted from deep beneath the lithosphere. Researchers found traces of Ruthenium-100 in lava samples on the Hawaiian Islands, a signal indicating that these rocks originated from the core-mantle boundary. “When the first results came in, we realised that we had literally struck gold!” exclaimed Dr. Nils Messling from the University of Gottingen’s Department of Geochemistry. This precious metal, along with gold, was believed to be trapped within the Earth’s core since it formed 4.5 billion years ago.
Published in the prestigious journal *Nature*, these findings challenge the longstanding notion of an isolated core. “We can now also prove that huge volumes of superheated mantle material—several hundreds of quadrillion metric tonnes—are rising to the Earth’s surface, forming ocean islands like Hawaii,” explained Professor Matthias Willbold.
The implications of this discovery extend beyond academic curiosity. With over 99.999% of the Earth’s gold and other precious metals still buried beneath 3,000 kilometers of rock, this migration to the mantle could mean the precious metals we depend on, particularly in critical sectors like renewable energy, may have roots deeper than initially assumed.
