Gold could be deposited almost instantaneously in the Earth's crust during earthquakes. Gold is formed when an earthquake widens a fluid-filled rock fracture causing a drop in pressure, which in turn allows gold dissolved in the fluid to rapidly leach out. Much of the world's gold is found in quartz veins that formed during periods of mountain building up to 3 billion years ago and was deposited by large volumes of water along deep, seismically active faults. The veins were formed under fluctuating pressures during earthquakes, but until now, the magnitude of these pressure shifts and how they influence the formation of gold was unknown. http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/03/18/3716298.htm http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201303/r1087783_12998434.jpg
