Editing Gold (section)

=== Seawater ===
The world's [[ocean]]s contain gold. Measured concentrations of gold in the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific are 50–150 [[femtomolar|femtomol]]/L or 10–30 parts per [[quadrillion]] (about 10–30&nbsp;g/km<sup>3</sup>). In general, gold concentrations for south Atlantic and central Pacific samples are the same (~50 femtomol/L) but less certain. Mediterranean deep waters contain slightly higher concentrations of gold (100–150 femtomol/L), which is attributed to wind-blown dust or rivers. At 10 parts per quadrillion, the Earth's [[oceans]] would hold 15,000 tonnes of gold.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1016/0012-821X(90)90060-B |title=Gold in seawater |first1=K. |last1=Kenison Falkner |author-link1=Kelly Falkner|journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |volume=98 |date=1990 |pages=208–221 |last2=Edmond |first2=J. |issue=2 |bibcode=1990E&PSL..98..208K}}</ref> These figures are three orders of magnitude less than reported in the literature prior to 1988, indicating contamination problems with the earlier data.

A number of people have claimed to be able to economically recover gold from [[sea water]], but they were either mistaken or acted in an intentional deception. [[Prescott Jernegan]] ran a gold-from-seawater swindle in the [[United States]] in the 1890s, as did an English fraudster in the early 1900s.<ref>Plazak, Dan ''A Hole in the Ground with a Liar at the Top'' (Salt Lake: Univ. of Utah Press, 2006) {{ISBN|0-87480-840-5}} (contains a chapter on gold-from seawater swindles)</ref> [[Fritz Haber]] did research on the extraction of gold from sea water in an effort to help pay [[Germany]]'s reparations following [[World War I]].<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Das Gold im Meerwasser |first=F. |last=Haber |volume=40 |issue=11 |date=1927 |doi=10.1002/ange.19270401103 |pages=303–314 |journal=Zeitschrift für Angewandte Chemie|bibcode=1927AngCh..40..303H }}</ref> Based on the published values of 2 to 64 ppb of gold in seawater, a commercially successful extraction seemed possible. After analysis of 4,000 water samples yielding an average of 0.004 ppb, it became clear that extraction would not be possible, and he ended the project.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1016/0375-6742(88)90051-9 |title=Concentration of gold in natural waters |first=J. B. |last=McHugh |journal=Journal of Geochemical Exploration |volume=30 |date=1988 |pages=85–94 |issue=1–3 |bibcode=1988JCExp..30...85M |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1258491 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200307233511/https://zenodo.org/record/1258491 |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 March 2020}}</ref><!--10.1007/BF01497020-->