Many Nuggets Gold formed as clusters of gold crystals from very hot water in cracks and fissures in hard-rocks, often with quartz. Later, weathering released the gold nuggets that end up in a stream due to gravity. Nuggets are gold fragments weathered out of an original lode.

While gold nuggets are relatively common and formed through erosion, crystallized gold forms deep within the Earth under specific conditions, making it exceedingly rare. This rarity, coupled with its aesthetic appeal, drives significant interest among collectors, museums, and investors.

Earthquakes may help prospectors strike gold: When these seismic events stir and squeeze quartz veins deep underground, the mineral creates an electric field that gold particles clump to, forming gigantic golden nuggets. Geologists have known that earthquakes can produce bits of gold on quartz.