Gold in Them There Trees
By Hayley Birch
Wedge your silly hat on your head and put on your best Californian accent. We’re a-goin’ gold huntin’.That’s right - there’s a new gold rush. But we’re not headed for the hills, we’re headed for the forest. And you won’t be needing those pans, because we ain’t panning for gold, we’re getting it from tree stumps.
Perhaps this all sounds a bit balmy, but rest assured, there is gold in them there trees. Russian researchers have found precious metals, including up to 3kg of silver and 200mg of gold per tonne, concentrated in the ash of decaying tree stumps.
But how did it get there? Scientists say trees growing above precious metal deposits can reach down far into the soil; so far that over many years they draw up the elements with their roots.
When the tree decomposes, helped by the actions of a bunch of ravenous little microbes, the deposits are left behind in the ash – quite literally, gold dust.
For more from Hayley, try her page.
Golden oldies from the Null:
- Mysterious - New city of gold?
- Silly - Money grown on trees
- Pointless - Scientists named after metals
- Spoof - The turin shrub
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Image: Jeremy Bank
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