Quick
Search: 		  
advanced search
 GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help 
Geology Don't get GSW? Talk to your librarian.
JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Geology; July 2008; v. 36; no. 7; p. 571-574; DOI: 10.1130/G24749A.1
© 2008 Geological Society of America
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hough, R.M.
Right arrow Articles by Verrall, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation

Naturally occurring gold nanoparticles and nanoplates

R.M. Hough1,*, R.R.P. Noble1, G.J. Hitchen1, R. Hart2, S.M. Reddy3, M. Saunders4, P. Clode4, D. Vaughan5, J. Lowe6, D.J. Gray7, R.R. Anand7, C.R.M. Butt7 and M. Verrall7

1 CSIRO Exploration and Mining, CRCLEME, ARRC, 26 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, Perth, Western Australia 6151, Australia
2 Centre for Materials Research, Curtin University of Technology, P.O. Box U1897, Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia
3 Institute for Geoscience Research, Department of Applied Geology, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia
4 Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, University of Western Australia, Crawley 6009, Western Australia, Australia
5 P.O. Box 187, Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia 6000, Australia
6 Nanochemistry Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology, P.O. Box U1897, Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia
7 CSIRO Exploration and Mining, CRCLEME, ARRC, 26 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, Perth, Western Australia 6151, Australia

Correspondence: * E-mail: robert.hough{at}csiro.au

During the weathering of gold deposits, exceptionally pure, <200 nm diameter, nanoparticulate gold plates (6 nm thick) are formed. The particles display controlled growth of both size and shape and signs of assembly to form belts and sheets. The gold is associated and inter-grown with minerals formed by evaporation and is interpreted to have been deposited rapidly from saline groundwater during a drying event. The size and morphology of the gold nanoparticles and nanoplates are identical to the products of experimentally manufactured gold colloids. This represents the first direct observation of colloidal nanoparticulate gold in nature, confirming this as an active mechanism of gold transport during the weathering of gold deposits.

Key Words: gold • weathering • nanoparticles • critical zone • nanoplates • colloid




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 ELEMENTSHome page
R. M. Hough, C. R. M. Butt, and J. Fischer-Buhner
The Crystallography, Metallography and Composition of Gold
Elements, October 1, 2009; 5(5): 297 - 302.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ELEMENTSHome page
G. Southam, M. F. Lengke, L. Fairbrother, and F. Reith
The Biogeochemistry of Gold
Elements, October 1, 2009; 5(5): 303 - 307.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by Geological Society of America