Many copper mines in the world are discovered according to plants. There is a world-famous copper mine in Kalonggua, northwestern Zambia. The discovery of this copper mine is due to a copper flower with blue flowers. A herb named Elsholtzia Haizhou grows in the north of China and is favored by geologists. Because wherever there is this plant, there are often copper mines buried there, because the roots of this plant contain a lot of copper. In China, this factory has been officially listed as an indicator factory of copper mine. In the Urals, there is a wild rose with blue flowers. According to analysis, this strange color may be related to copper ore. A copper mine was discovered there after exploration.
There are also some plants that become guides to gold. 1934, Czechoslovakian chemist Babichika and others burned corn into ashes, and when they studied its chemical composition, they found gold in it. Then, when they analyzed the ash content of several other local plants such as sunflower, fir and beech, they also found gold. I found a gold mine here. There are also some plants, such as Vitex negundo, Coprinus comatus and Eichhornia crassipes. This also has the ability to absorb gold in the soil. Therefore, where these plants flourish, there are probably gold mines. Under the guidance of Ye, China geologists discovered a gold mine in Huitong County, western Hunan.
In North America, there is a valley called "There is no going back". No matter whether man or beast enters this valley, it is impossible to come back alive. Later, geologists discovered here that this phenomenon was originally caused by a large amount of selenium in the soil. They mine selenium here. However, their mining method is very special. Instead of extracting from the soil, they planted a lot of Chinese milk vetch, dried the harvested Chinese milk vetch, burned it into ashes, and then extracted it from the ashes. Because this plant can absorb a lot of selenium from the soil and keep it in the body, it has become an indicator plant of selenium mine. Chinese milk vetch grows very fast and can be harvested several times a year. It is calculated that 2.5 kilograms of selenium can be obtained per hectare of Chinese milk vetch.
There are many plants that can be used as prospecting guides, and people have accumulated rich experience in practice. If people find that Artemisia annua, which was originally very tall, has become shorter in some soils, it means that the soil may contain boron. If pansy grows particularly luxuriantly and the flowers are particularly bright, it means that there may be zinc in these places. If lupine grows luxuriantly, it means that there may be manganese underground. There may be nickel ore where Stipa grows, silver ore under honeysuckle, uranium ore where trumpet grass grows, tungsten and tin where heather grows, and Suaeda salsa is a sign that there may be oil.
Why do these plants become guides for prospecting? Because some plants often need some minerals in their growth and development, they often go deep into the developed roots to find these mineral elements. In the long geological age, some chemical elements in underground minerals gradually became absorbable ions. When plant root cells absorb water, metal ions also enter cells, accumulate on cell membranes, and move into stems, leaves, flowers, fruits or seeds. Therefore, geologists look for minerals according to the changes of pH value and color of cell fluid.
Another point of view has also been put forward. Because of the high content of this metal in the soil around the metal mine, many plants can't stand this high content of metal, so they are eliminated because they can't grow. Only a few species survived, gradually adapted to this metal environment and absorbed into their own bodies, thus becoming a symbol of a certain mineral.
Plant prospecting has broad development prospects. However, few plants can be used for prospecting at present, which shows that there is still great potential in this field. With the efforts of scientists, more prospecting plants may be discovered. In addition, prospecting plants also reveals the fact that a certain mineral will change the shape of plants, telling us that one day, people will transform plants according to their own will.