Scientists in New Zealand found that freshwater fish genetics can be used to hunt the vast amount of gold buried under the mountains of New Zealand.
Tectonic Plate Disruptions
New Zealand lies at the boundary of the two tectonic plates, the Australian plate and the Pacific Plate. The pacific plate is moving into the Australian plate and slides underneath it, which results in a state of constant disruption in the region.
This disruption leads to the fall of old mountain ranges and the rise of new ones. As the mountains fall and rise, the rivers change course, separated and united. The river flow is reversed in some cases.
Scientists have traced the movement of fish and the sediments of gold that lie beneath the river beds. This ultimately led to finding the the enormous quantity of hidden gold by research team.
River Capture and Galaxias
The native freshwater fish species, Galaxias is researched and it shows that the fish genetics can withhold evidence of tectonic changes in the landscape. This brings us to the key fact that the fish species for over a million years were split by river capture or river piracy.
The fish genes are a shred of important evidence for knowing the exact geological events and they are more valid than examining the rocks. Dave Craw, a geologist at the University of Otago said “You need to find the when which rivers went where”.
The southern province of Otago carries eroded gold in its river stream. The Southland province which is near Otago also carries gold but the amount of gold carried in the basement rock is very less.
Otago and Southland province are separated by a mountain range, due to tectonic eruptions, says geologist, Craw.
Fish genetics Research
Jon Waters, a biologist at the University of Otago found an unexpected connection between both provinces – the Galaxiid fish species that live on both sides of the mountain province river.
The fish species split up when the rise and fall of mountains occurred over a period of million years of time. This understanding led the scientist’s Craw and Waters to search for more evidence and they essentially found more.
Waters said, “The places where the records of fish are strong and geology is lacking, and the places where the geological records are strong where the fish records are lacking, can be put together which in return solves the jigsaw puzzle”.
They also found that the fish genetics can be used to find the hidden gold resources that were buried underneath the river beds.
“Fishes are living in the river and they travel along with the river waters and if the rivers change course, the fishes travel along with it also applies to mineral sediments’ ‘ says geomorphologist Pedro Val at the City University of New York.
Hidden Gold Treasures
The study by Craw shows that the prehistoric riverbed lies beneath the farmland southwest of the Mataura river. This buried riverbed might be carrying huge amounts of gold hidden in it.
It might be covered with 50 meters of gravel on top of it. Craw said it might take nearly 20 years time to mine gold in that region, as it is a lot of work and fuel.
