Khurram

Questions: Gold Anomalies in Soils from North Carolina, U.S.
By
KHURRAM SHAHZAD
Enrollment No: 01-262162-019
MS Geology II
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Bahria University, Islamabad
2017
Q.1
In an environment characterized by abundant humus, gold has a tendency to
form complexes. What is the nature (chemical) of these complexes and what immediate
effect do they have on the mobility of gold?
Answer.
The presence of gold in living plants and the enrichment of gold in the humus
layer of the soil, as demonstrated by Goldschmidt (1937) and by Curtin et al., (1968),
suggest that gold is dissolved and transported in soil solutions and is taken up by plants.
Gold chloride ion (AuCl4 -1) traditionally has been considered to be the principal gold
complex in solutions in such environment. Apart from gold chloride, gold cyanide and
thiocyanate may be the most common gold complexes. Cyanide and thiocyanate ions
are products of hydrolysis of plant glycocides by enzymatic action (Armstrong and
Armstrong, 1931; Timonin, 1941; Kingsbury, 1964). These ions have the ability to
complex gold in moderately oxidizing environments (Jacobson, 1949; Manskaya and
Drozdova, 1968). Results of this study showed that gold cyanide and thiocyanate may
be the most common stable gold complexes in soils, plants, and natural waters. The
gold cyanide and thiocyanate ions remain in solution when in contact with common
rocks and minerals, and they are readily taken up by plants. The other ions studied;
chloride, bromide, iodide, and thiosulfate, may form complexes with gold which remain
stable only long enough to permit some restricted movement of gold under special
conditions.
Gold is mobile in the supergene environment under certain weathering conditions. The
presence of gold in plant tissues has been reported by many investigators.Z
The enrichment of gold in forest humus mull and near-surface soil also suggests that
the mobility of gold as a complex ion is transitory (Lakin et al., 1974).
The following complex ions possibly play a role in the migration of gold: AuC1 4-2,
AuBr4-1, Aui2-1, Au(CN)2-1, Au(CNS)4-1, and Au(S2O3)2-3 (Lakin et al., 1974).
Q.2
The implication in the answer to the above question is that the various gold
organic complexes stay in the humic layer, that is, they cycle between the living and
dead vegetation. Is it possible that some may be moved out of the system, perhaps
into the groundwater and surface water environments?
Answer.
Yes, the experiment carried out by Shacklette et al., (1970) showed that gold
complexes other than gold chloride are required for the migration of gold into plants
and in streams and ground water.
Q.3
Accepting as fact that gold complexes with humic derived materials

(thiosulfates, cyanide, etc.) tend to be continually cycled between living and dead
vegetation in North Carolina, explain how Au values of 2 ppm can develop on a bedrock
with 7 ppb Au.
Answer.
The presence of gold in humus was observed by Goldschmidt (1937) in beech

humus from a very old beech and oak forest in Germany. Goldschmidt suggested that
a number of elements, including gold, which enter the plant organism through the roots
in soil solution and which are eventually deposited on the ground, are immobilized and
enriched in this humus layer, the humus layer has acted as a reductant and concentration
medium which retains exceedingly fine gold at the surface that has been accumulated
from a large volume of soil by the tree. The relative insolubility of gold drastically
limits the portion of the total gold under the plant that is available to the plant roots.
One would expect to find easily detectable gold in the humus layer only in those areas
where gold is relatively abundant. Its detection in humus suggests the possible presence
of gold ores.
The biogeochemical cycle is the prime factor in the concentration of gold in the
upper layers of the soil profiles. Gold may become enriched in the surface soil because
of sheet erosion removing lighter material. It may also become enriched by
biogeochemical cycling of gold, a process in which gold is leached from the soil and
bedrock, is absorbed by the vegetation, and is eventually concentrated in the mull and
upper layers of the soil as the vegetation decays. This process is presumed to be the
dominant one in those profiles in which the gold content is high in the ash of mull.
Q.4
In what other geological environments, other than in the humus layers of soil,
will this process occur, that is, the formation of a gold false (for non-significant)
anomaly associated with humus or humic layer?
Answer.
The high density of gold particles that permits the residual enrichment of the
particles in sheet erosion also permits their accumulation at bedrock surfaces by gravity
separation in the soil profile by much the same process as in stream sediments. When
gravity separation is combined with biochemical or erosional surface enrichment one
finds soil profiles with high gold content at both the surface and the rock bottom. When
no biogeochemical or erosional enrichment of the surface soil is occurring, the gravity
effect is dominant and the soil shows high gold content only near bedrock or at the
interface with a clay pan. The distribution of gold with particle size is a function of the
completeness of the weathering of the ore. In as much as many gold ores are emplaced
with silicification, the ore may be more resistant to weathering than are the wall rocks.
In such places, fine gold may be enclosed in coarse particles in the soil. This fact must
be considered in soil or stream sampling in gold exploration (Lakin et al., 1974).
Q.5
In what other geographical-climatic regions of the world would you expect

this process to occur?
Answer.
Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Clear Creek, Empire district, Colorado,

Copper basin area of west-central Arizona and Cripple Creek, Colorado having
climate conditions of High Altitudes Moist Semi-Arid Moist High Altitudes Moist
Semi-Arid Moist respectively.
References
Goldschmidt, V. M., 1937. The principles of distribution of chemical elements in

minerals and rocks: Chern. Soc. (London) Jour., p. 655-673.
Jacobson, C. A., ed., 1949. Encyclopedia of chemical reactions, v. 3: New York,

Reinhold Publishing Corp., 842 p.
Kingsbury, J. M., 1964. Poisonous plants of the United States and Canada:
Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, Inc., 626 p.
Manskaya, S. M. and Drozdova, T. V., 1968. Geochemistry of organic substances

(translated and edited by Leonard Shapiro and I. A. Breger) : New York, Pergamon
Press, Internat. Ser. Mon. Earth Sci., v. 28, 345 p.
Lakin, H. W., Curtin, G.C. and Hubert, A.E., 1974. Geochemistry of Gold in the
Weathering Cycle. U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 1330, p. 1-80.

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Questions: Gold Anomalies in Soils from North Carolina, U.S.

Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Accepting as fact that gold complexes with humic derived materials

The presence of gold in humus was observed by Goldschmidt (1937) in beech

In what other geographical-climatic regions of the world would you expect

Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Clear Creek, Empire district, Colorado,

Goldschmidt, V. M., 1937. The principles of distribution of chemical elements in

Jacobson, C. A., ed., 1949. Encyclopedia of chemical reactions, v. 3: New York,

Manskaya, S. M. and Drozdova, T. V., 1968. Geochemistry of organic substances

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