Archive · 3 Sep 2025
Scientists Discover Earth's Core Leaks Precious Metals to Surface
Imagine the Earth has a secret treasure chest of gold deep inside.
Scientists have found tiny bits of this gold are escaping from the core through volcanoes.
They studied lava from volcanoes and found traces of gold and another metal called ruthenium.
The amount of gold is huge, possibly worth trillions of euros, but what comes out is only a little bit.
This discovery helps scientists learn about what the Earth is made of, even though we can't dig it up because our tools aren't good enough.
It’s like getting a peek at something really valuable that's far away!
Scientists detected gold and ruthenium from Earth's core in volcanic lava.
The study was conducted at the University of Gottingen in Germany.
Researchers studied lava from Hawaiian volcanoes, such as Kīlauea and Lo‘ihi.
Earth's core is estimated to contain up to 30 billion tons of gold.
Current technology is not efficient for mining the Earth's core.
- Who
- Scientists at the University of Gottingen
- What
- Detected precious metals leaking from Earth's core to the surface through volcanic activity.
- When
- Recently
- Where
- Hawaiian volcanoes (Kīlauea and Lo‘ihi) and University of Gottingen in Germany
- Why
- To understand the Earth's composition and the processes shaping its interior.
- Study Location
- University of Gottingen, Germany
- Metals Detected
- Gold, Ruthenium
- Source of Metals
- Earth's core
- Method of Detection
- Analyzing lava from Hawaiian volcanoes
- Estimated Gold in Core
- Up to 30 billion tons
- Value of Gold
- €2.77 trillion