Antarctica's Most Active Volcano Has Been Scattering Gold Across the Ice Since 1972

A volcano at the bottom of the world has been continuously erupting for more than 50 years, hosts a lava lake in its summit crater, and almost incidentally dusts the surrounding ice with crystallized gold every single day. Mount Erebus is not subtle about any of this.

Scientists found that Antarctica's highest active volcano emits gold particles along with its volcanic gases at a rate of roughly 2.8 ounces (80 grams) per day. That's about $6,000 worth of gold dust daily. The discovery isn't new: American geologists first made it in 1991, and recent findings confirm the original observation.

Gold particles travel upward from deep subterranean deposits during volcanic activity. Most volcanoes melt these particles entirely during eruptions, but Erebus is different. When frigid Antarctic air meets the scorching surface of the lava lake, conditions for solid gold apparently materialize. Erebus releases its gases slowly, giving particles time to crystallize rather than being blasted apart in erratic eruptions.

Gold dust from Erebus has been detected in the air up to 621 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the volcano. At around 60 microns, the flecks are much smaller than the width of a human hair, which means no one is getting rich off this. It's the planet's most expensive snow globe.

A volcano that sits in one of the coldest places on Earth and uses that cold to mint gold. The planet does not need our permission to be astonishing.

Read the full story at Interesting Engineering, April 19, 2024

Hot Take: Every geology teacher worth anything has a speech ready about how Earth processes operate at scales humans can't quite hold in their heads, and Mount Erebus is the kind of story that earns that speech. A permanently erupting, gold-dusting, lava-lake-having volcano has been doing its thing since 1972, and most people are only hearing about it now. The ground has always been talking. We're just not great listeners.