IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v4y2013i1d10.1038_ncomms3614.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Natural gold particles in Eucalyptus leaves and their relevance to exploration for buried gold deposits

Author

Listed:
  • Melvyn Lintern

    (CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering, 26 Dick Perry Avenue)

  • Ravi Anand

    (CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering, 26 Dick Perry Avenue)

  • Chris Ryan

    (School of Physics, University of Melbourne)

  • David Paterson

    (Australian Synchrotron)

Abstract

Eucalyptus trees may translocate Au from mineral deposits and support the use of vegetation (biogeochemical) sampling in mineral exploration, particularly where thick sediments dominate. However, biogeochemistry has not been routinely adopted partly because biotic mechanisms of Au migration are poorly understood. For example, although Au has been previously measured in plant samples, there has been doubt as to whether it was truly absorbed rather than merely adsorbed on the plant surface as aeolian contamination. Here we show the first evidence of particulate Au within natural specimens of living biological tissue (not from laboratory experimentation). This observation conclusively demonstrates active biogeochemical adsorption of Au and provides insight into its behaviour in natural samples. The confirmation of biogeochemical adsorption of Au, and of a link with abiotic processes, promotes confidence in an emerging technique that may lead to future exploration success and maintain continuity of supply.

Suggested Citation

  • Melvyn Lintern & Ravi Anand & Chris Ryan & David Paterson, 2013. "Natural gold particles in Eucalyptus leaves and their relevance to exploration for buried gold deposits," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms3614
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3614
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms3614
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms3614?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms3614. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.