Australian scientists have found high concentrations of gold in a put you’d maybe never expect to uncover it — in a termite hill. The termites commonly found in Australia transport sediment via deep underground towards the surface, which are used to construct towering mounds that home the colony. Researchers are now realizing these small insects are quite the gold prospectors as well.
Gold has been mined across the Australian Outback for years, however locateing abundant deposits is often painstaking and has a bad effect on the environs. Researchers have long ktodayn that precious metal-laced sediments are usually indicative of deposits deeper underground, but you still have to go away and collect the samples to check. Termites only happen to be awesome for collecting, and “processing” soil samples.
The insects studied in Australia are Tumulitermes tumuli, a varieties found in a very western part of the state. When individual insects consume a sediment sample with significant amounts of metal, those particles are separated away and passed via the digestive system. Testing can then detect the elevated levels of gold deposited in a very very structure of the termite mound. The examine team found samples in some termite colonies as high as 5,000 pieces per billion, which is significantly above baselines.
This isn’t quite a viable way to retrieve gold by underground, however it gives us a much better idea about what spots are going to require a worthwhile deposit of gold. That means less digging, and less interference with the landscape.
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