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Gold is a naturally occurring element (element symbol Au, atomic number 79), that is created in nature e.g. during supernovae explosions of type II (see link "supernovae nucleosynthesis").

It also has been created in amounts of a several atoms by nuclear transmutation (see respective link), but it cannot be "created" or "destroyed" in the classical sense of chemistry.
On earth, gold is found mostly in solid form in veins in siliceous rocks. By alteration, it can be eroded and placed in form of powder, granules or nuggets in the riverbeds. Low concentrations of dissolved gold can also be found in the sea.Occurrence in nature
Gold occurs in nature in both its native state and in compounds. The native state of an element is its free state. It is not combined with any other element. The most common compounds of gold are the tellurides. A telluride is a compound of the element tellurium and one or more other elements.
At one time, gold was found in chunks or nuggets large enough to see. People mined gold by picking it out of streams and rivers. In fact, gold was once very common in some parts of the world. People valued it not because it was rare, but because it was so beautiful.
The abundance of gold in the Earth's crust is estimated to be about 0.005 parts per million. That makes it one of the ten rarest elements in the Earth's crust. Gold is thought to be much more common in the oceans. Some people believe as much as 70 million tons of gold are dissolved in seawater. They also think there may be another 10 billion tons on the bottom of the oceans. So far, however, no one has found a way to mine this gold.
About a quarter of the world's gold comes from South Africa. Other leading producers of the metal are the United States, Australia, Canada, China, and Russia. In the United States, about two-thirds of its gold is mined in Nevada. California, Montana, Alaska, and South Dakota also produce gold.

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Fort knox..

They have also been able to find gold in the Amazon rain forest- which, has been hard on the environment, and created many problems ....