Paleogulch Prospecting

[Cariboo5]

Has any one here been successful in prospecting and mining paleogulchs as opposed to the lower paleochannels? In researching I found the following information on paleogulchs.

"Placer deposits in paleogulch settings are different from other paleochannel deposits in that they generally consist of poorly sorted, cobble to boulder-sized fluvial gravels with interbedded debris-flow deposits. The sedimentary characteristics of these deposits vary widely from bed to bed. Paleogulch placers also are generally smaller than other buried valley placer deposits but they often contain significantly higher gold concentrations."

Here most of the paleochannel ground is staked and one is forced to go higher and after reading about paleogulch this may be the direction to go. Any information from your experiences is appreciated... Thanks in advance to all....

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Cry Of The Eagle: History And Legends Of The Cherokee Indians And Their Buried Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[goldenmojo]

I read somewhere once in an old miners diary that one gulch would be lousy with gold and the next would have absolutely none.....

Goldenmojo

 

[Clay Diggins]

We typically call those Quatenary or Q gravels and then break them down by period (Holocene, Middle Pleistocene etc) or time (ka to ma). All the Q gravels belong to the most recent Cenezoic periods - thus the general paleo designation. The Cenezoic predates the Tertiary periods and may very well contain erosion products from earlier periods.

Paleo gravels doesn't really tell you much about the origin or age beyond the fact that they are prehistoric. Pretty much all of your stranded stream placers can be classified as paleo.

By closer period classifying you can compare and contrast different deposits to develop a model of which gravels might have the most gold. This takes some of the mystery out of why some gravels have gold and some don't. If you learn the language of geology you can eliminate a lot of digging in unproductive ground.

You are on the right track. Getting up above the streams you will be more likely to find richer unmined deposits. These are particularly suited to the small miner. Learn the language used in the available geological reports and you can begin some seriously productive research.

Where are you located? You statement that most of the paleochannel deposits are staked doesn't really ring true in my experience. Some of the best of the tertiary gravels in California still have unclaimed portions.

 

[Cariboo5]

We typically call those Quatenary or Q gravels and then break them down by period (Holocene, Middle Pleistocene etc) or time (ka to ma). All the Q gravels belong to the most recent Cenezoic periods - thus the general paleo designation. The Cenezoic predates the Tertiary periods and may very well contain erosion products from earlier periods.

Paleo gravels doesn't really tell you much about the origin or age beyond the fact that they are prehistoric. Pretty much all of your stranded stream placers can be classified as paleo.

By closer period classifying you can compare and contrast different deposits to develop a model of which gravels might have the most gold. This takes some of the mystery out of why some gravels have gold and some don't. If you learn the language of geology you can eliminate a lot of digging in unproductive ground.

You are on the right track. Getting up above the streams you will be more likely to find richer unmined deposits. These are particularly suited to the small miner. Learn the language used in the available geological reports and you can begin some seriously productive research.

Where are you located? You statement that most of the paleochannel deposits are staked doesn't really ring true in my experience. Some of the best of the tertiary gravels in California still have unclaimed portions.

Clay....thanks for the info and what you have suggested is what I am doing as we speak and that is to study & learn more of the geological terms and what they refer to. Yes I am a small miner and keeping it small enables me to stake several claim cells and do all the required assessment work necessary to keep the claims. (we can now do the work up to a 10 year period) so these new claims after all the work is done will have an expiry date in 2024 and each year after that I can do a years work to maintain the 10 year cushion. I am located in the gold rush area of BC and 99.9% of all of the better ground is staked and worked. I have found what are rocks are associated gold in paleogulchs here and also being between two thrust faults is a bonus. I can hardly wait for spring to start...

Thanks again Clay.......