Submitted by zafferous t3_yh5512 in explainlikeimfive
OrbitalPete t1_iuc8ivy wrote
As tectonic processes move the crust around, smooshing it together, bending it, stretching it etc, it also has lots of fluid moving through it. Some are hot, some are cold, some are water based, some are magmatic. They can have wildly different chemistry. As they interact with different rocks at different pressure and temperatures those fluid can dissolve some things. And like putting milk in chocolate cereal - some stuff dissolves into the fluid and others don't.
So while a rock might only contain, say, 0.003% gold, hot fluids with the right temperature, pH and other conditions might be able to dissolve the gold and not much else. That will remove the gold from the rock and put it in the fluid.
As the fluid moves through cracks and other fluid pathways it can cool down or change its solvent properties, and particular minerals will get dumped out of it in highly concentrated volumes.
chipdipmcgillicuddy t1_iucdkhs wrote
Liquid hot “magma”
shawn_overlord t1_iucksyk wrote
aren't you gonna watch them..? they could get away!?
xBobble t1_iudx5sk wrote
No, no, no. I'm just going to assume it all went to plan.
YandyTheGnome t1_iuecv4d wrote
The Diet Coke of Evil
zafferous OP t1_iudea1l wrote
Nice, thanks!
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