Hard Pack?

[2020hindsite]

I have a few questions and am impressed by the wealth of knowledge here. Hopefully someone may be able to help as I dont have access to a geologist.
An important note is that I am in Ohio. Our gold here was generally accepted as being brough down by glacial activity from Canada.
As with most Placer mining its important to dredge/dig down to bedrock or hardpack. I understand that hardpack clay acts like bedrock for stopping gold. I have been told by numerous people in my area to clean the hard pack real well but dont punch through it.
I was wondering what exactly is hard pack clay and how is it formed in a creek bed?
I assume glaciation plays a role.
I have a theory about my favorite prospecting spot and in order to form a valid hypothesis I need more education as to hard packed clay.
I read somewhere how hard pack is formed but I dont know if it was misinformation or not.

 

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[claygold]

Hardpack clay hi to get to bedrock where i am a lot of times i have to go thru the clay i've heard somepeople say ir is not worth it but i have found good gold underneth it one time last summer i found one 1 gram nugget an at the same spot a 2 gram nugget good luck with whitchever way u go

 

[B H Prospector]

Why wouldn't you go through the hard pack? Don't you think that gold was deposited there before the clay was deposited there? It's not like there is a certain sequence that can only happen a certain way. Nature has no ryhme or reason why or how she does things. She just does it by what the conditions and circumstances are. That's how minerals are formed. All conditions must be right in that particular spot. Gold deposits are no different whether load or placer. If conditions where right then gold was depoited before the clay was and then more gold on top of the clay. You won't know unless you break through the hardpack.

Good Luck!

BH Prospector

 

[kazcoro]

Sample each layer till you hit bedrock. that's the only way to really know.

 

[63bkpkr]

GreenDredge, Welcome to Tnet! This place is loaded with super intelligent folks with huge amounts of experience and I'm certain that one of them will come along soon, not that they've not already commented. Your question is an interesting one first as I can see some question marks in earlier reply's and because I've never thought much about it.

I will guess here and please remember this is a guess. Prospecting is a lot like Real Estate Sales, location, location, location. Then there is chance. Throw these together and you've got the whole gaggle of mining conditions all at once, well almost. Then comes timing and now you have the entire picture. You are in Ohio and that's a good State as my Mother was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. So, there is weather four seasons but gosh only knows what it was like there a thousand years or more ago but, Geological Stuff happened back then as well as more recently as well as right now.

Here in Northern California (NorCal) right now the spring is mostly over as the snow pack was light, the weather is still not hot but even so the rivers are getting lower and lower and hence slower with less volume. Now just suppose that with this low slow water a clay deposit up river starts to decay and Slowly wash away. At some point it will reach a really slow spot in the river and drop out. After a quantity of it accumulates like this it compacts and hardens, maybe even that part of the river goes completely dry if only for a month or so before the rain and snow starts up again. That is one way clay deposits could be deposited, remember this is a guess on my part. There could have been gold in the collection location before the clay was laid down and it will be there till the clay deposit is removed. Or maybe there was no gold there but when the clay was deposited but after the clay hardened IT became the bedrock and hence gold built up on top of it.

So all of this could be hogwash as we are indeed talking about location, chance and timing and come to think of it weather as well as whether are involved though I suspect in some arrangement or another this is how all of these things get laid out over time. One of us stumbles along, speaking about myself here, and finds this little bit of heaven on earth and we are just delighted to be alive as we've just found some gold.

I do not know if it helps but I had fun.....................63bkpkr

 

[Hoser John]

GD-there are more kinds of hardpack than women. Sample them all-dredge down and clean a layer,shut down and take a looksee. Dump and repeat till ya hit bedrock,tough with a tiny 2". You absolutely need a blaster nozzle but be careful as with such a small pump it's ez to rob too much water from the box. Go with a smaller 15' 1/2" no kink hose and lawn sweeper valve with a volume control. Ifn' ya ain't a blastn' your just a piddln' and a diddln'. Melts clay like butter,breaks down impacted gravels and blasts that bedrock nice and clean and BEAT them cracks to death as a HUGE percentage of gold lies within-John

 

[2020hindsite]

My area used to be under an ancent ocean. This is very apparent in the fossils that are abundantly found here. Then after the ocean dried up or receded the area was glaciated numerous times with massive floods and mile high walls of ice. Ohio has had quite a past...
The reason I ask is that if you wiki "clay" it states that it is comprised of many different materials and is basically ground up rock and sediment. I read somewhere that hard pack clay layers are made during epic floods but I dont know if its true or not.
I have always been a nerd and not only enjoy prospecting but the processes of geology. I think knowing the processes makes you a better prospector.
If the hard pack was made in a flood then theoretically gold should have been depositied before sediment layers. If the hard pack was made from sediment sitting on a sea floor then I can understand no gold being below it as Ohio does nto contain gold as part of its sedimentary rocks. But that also makes me wonder that If glaciers are able to flatten most of Ohio and transport millions of tons of materials from Canada then dont you think that the clay would have been scraped up during glaciation?
It would make sense that the hard pack clay layer was made after the glacier...
So again mabe I am completly off base but Im just trying to get a better understanding. I agree that IF I can reach bedrock then that is what I need to do.
What is hard pack clay? and most importantly how is it made?

 

[spillercanyon]

GD-there are more kinds of hardpack than women. Sample them all

That is where I paused for a second before reading on. Thought we were going to be sampling some women! Sorry off topic but