Gold-coated silicon wafers were annealed at temperatures in the range from 800-1100 degrees C in a N-2 ambient containing a low (3-10 ppm) residual O-2 concentration. A dense network of amorphous silica nanowires was only observed on samples annealed at temperatures above 1000 degrees C and was correlated with the development of faceted etch-pits in the Si surface. Comparison with known thermodynamic data for the oxidation of Si and vapor-pressures of reactants shows that nanowire growth is mediated by a vapor-liquid-solid mechanism in which the dominant vapor-phase source of reactants is SiO produced by the active oxidation of Si. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3488882]