Researchers at the University of Göttingen in Germany have uncovered rare traces of gold in volcanic rocks that may offer new insight into Earth’s deep core. The findings, published in Nature, suggest that some gold and other valuable elements on the surface may have originated from the planet’s core.
The study centers on ruthenium, a scarce metal linked to gold and platinum, discovered in lava samples from the Hawaiian Islands. The researchers identified a subtle variation in one of its forms—an isotope known as 100Ru. This type appears slightly more often in the Earth’s metallic core than in its rocky outer layer, the mantle.
Such a small difference had never been detected before. Past technology couldn’t distinguish between the nearly identical isotopes. However, new methods developed by the Göttingen team now make it possible to identify these variations precisely.
Using this technique, scientists found an unusually high signal of 100Ru in Hawaiian lava. Based on the study, this can only be explained if the material came from the boundary where the mantle meets the core, roughly 3,000 kilometers below the surface.
“When the first results came in, we realized that we had literally struck gold. Our data confirmed that material from the core, including gold and other precious metals, is leaking into Earth’s mantle above,” said Dr. Nils Messling from the university’s Department of Geochemistry.
Just like the U.S. Treasury’s gold holdings, most of the world’s gold is in “deep storage”
“99.999+% of Earth’s stores of gold and other precious metals lie buried under 3,000 km of solid rock, locked away within Earth’s metallic core and far beyond the reaches of humankind.” pic.twitter.com/lau7CzZfrF
— Peter Spina
GoldSeek | SilverSeek (@goldseek) May 23, 2025
The findings challenge the long-standing view that Earth’s core is fully separated from the rest of the planet. Professor Matthias Willbold, also part of the research team, said the data points to a large-scale movement of superheated rock.
“We can now also prove that huge volumes of super-heated mantle material—several hundreds of quadrillion metric tons of rock—originate at the core-mantle boundary and rise to Earth’s surface to form ocean islands like Hawaii.”
The study suggests that some of Earth’s limited supply of precious metals, crucial in sectors like renewable energy and electronics, may have originated from these deep-Earth processes.
Still, the researchers note that many questions remain. “Whether these processes that we observe today have also been operating in the past remains to be proven,” Messling said. “Our findings open up an entirely new perspective on the evolution of the inner dynamics of our home planet.”
This discovery deepens scientific understanding of Earth’s interior but could also reshape theories about how surface materials are replenished over geological time.
