Colorado,
Would this unit work for a salt-impregnated mud flat? On the Oregon coast, there is a wreck that is buried below a tidal mud flat, and my attempts to get readings from it by remote sensing have failed, I think due to the salt in the mud.
Incidentally, in 1974, when somebody applied to the State of Oregon for a permit to recover this particular wreck, they claimed that a German engineer had detected gold and silver using an experimental machine that could differentiate these metals. The State took a sceptical view towards this claim, and towards the fact that the guy who was seeking the permit was proposing to use a backhoe as his prime/only archaeological tool. The State refused the permit, and the spot is now within a protected nature reserve, but it would be very interesting to find a way of remotely examining the site. Three non-Native skeletons were found nearby in the 1930s. They were buried under the roots of an old spriuce tree whose age was determined to be 330/340 years, meaning that the skeletons were probably deposited prior to rhe end of the 16th century.
I must admit that my initial reaction to the initial posting was a bit sceptical, because I thought anybody who was capable of inventing such a device would have easily found that wrecks could be at depths ranging from a few feet to a few thousand feet of water, but ColoradoMike's postngs reminded me of the need to keep an open mind. After all, didn't some aeronautical engineer prove conclusively (if theoetically) that a bumble bee was aerodynamically unstable,and therefore could not possibly fly?
I have a degree in engineeering, too, and am constantly reminded of how much I do not know.
Good luck, Colorado. I look forward to hearing more about your invention.
Mariner