Kamchatka is a peninsula located on the far eastern side of Russia and is a geologically active region within the Pacific Ring of Fire. Placer gold particles were obtained from a stream located in the Yelizovsky District and were compared to particles from regions at similar latitudes. Russian gold particle surface textures and morphologies were characterised optically and using electron microscopy, and bacteria occurring on the surface of particles were inferred from detected amplicon sequence variants (ASVs). The gold particles contained remarkably variable gold surface textures with an average 70% of surface area containing clay-filled concavities. Particle morphologies, interpreted from axis ratios, suggested that these particles were transported from primary sources. Proteobacteria constituted 60% of all the detected ASVs from the particles. Within this phylum, Gammaproteobacteria was the most dominant class. This study contributes to the understanding of gold biogeochemical cycling in a distinct bioclimatic environment.

堪察加半岛是位于俄罗斯远东地区的一个半岛，是太平洋火环内的地质活跃地区。砂金颗粒是从耶利佐夫斯基地区的一条河流中获得的，并与相似纬度地区的颗粒进行了比较。使用电子显微镜对俄罗斯金颗粒的表面纹理和形态进行了光学表征，并根据检测到的扩增子序列变异体（ASV）推断了颗粒表面上的细菌。金粒子包含明显不同的金表面纹理，平均表面积的70％包含粘土填充的凹陷。从轴比解释粒子形态，表明这些粒子是从主要来源运输的。变形细菌构成了从粒子中检测到的所有ASV的60％。在这个门中，γ-变形杆菌是最主要的类别。这项研究有助于理解独特的生物气候环境中的金生物地球化学循环。