Movement of the goods in the sand.

[Smoogle]

Total noob here. After reading many beach detecting tips it seems apparent that there are two schools of thought about for example a heavy gold ring on a beach. Some say it will bury in the sand and move very little - others seem to think the beach is robbed and replenished with new treasure with each storm tide. Considering the immense movement of sand here and power of water on our Aust East Coast beaches is it conceivable that a heavy object would move very little - simply settling as layers of sand are stripped from beneath with each wave - or would it be swept along to far from where it was lost. the way I look at it it would seem natural that heavy objects would eventually migrate lower and eventually into the ocean? Also I detected a popular beach area where a dune had been cut away away to about 9ft (by big surf lately) - heaps of black sand at the bottom - very few targets (unlike the trash on top of the dune) - do areas get completely cleaned through wave action?

 

[Sandman]

Objects are moved by wave movements, currants and even rain water washes. Storms can remove sand from a beach and can wash it back onto dry land along with anything that was in the sand. Objects can sink in the sand till they touch a denser bottom material like rock or shells where they can set till the next storm.

http://www.nmhra.netfirms.com/pulltab/ Read from the master......

 

[petersra]

I heard of a gold ring that was lost on one side of a pier and 8 months later found on the other side of the pier. I personally believe that most gold rings move very little and just go deeper into the sand as layers of sand are removed from around the ring and redeposited on top of the ring. However, in the case in point, this ring moved about 50 yards in an 8 month period (if you can believe the person who lost the ring really knew where they lost it.) I also think that the turbulence the pier cases to the natural current flow could have done something unusual in the movement of the ring. I often find "moguls" in the sand on the downstream side of the pier, presumably caused by the turbulence created by the pier. Perhaps the static position of the pier provides a good point of reference, but the sand seems to move more around the pier than along the undisturbed portion of the beach, but that could just be a perception.

 

[DrJoePrime]

I believe that heavy objects dropped in the weet sand or surf area mostly sink deeper. There are all sorts of strange things going on under and over the sand however. When we find pockets of coins or jewelery it is a result of these 'strange' things (currents, wave action, storms, wind, beach characteristics).

The most productive wet sand, shallow water hunting is to try to find and even possibly predict these pockets. I have my personal predicting criteria but they are not well established enough to share..yet.

Keep trying and keep looking (Patience and Persistence).

HH Joe

 

[lookindown]

The stuff has to move or you wouldn't find them in pockets. Where there are waves and current, I don't think any thing stays where it was dropped, not forever. I know the heavy stuff goes down, but it will be moved in time.

 

[biggmike]

I think items move differently at different beaches. We have all found pocket spills so I don't think the sand moves over night (unless there is a storm). The last time out I found 3 quarters and 2 nickles in the same hole. They were there so long that they were black. I had to look good at them to tell what they were so I'm guessing they were there some time and stayed together. I circled out away from the coins and there were no more coins close by so I'm pretty confident they were dropped together and stayed there till I found them. I have a good question on the same topic. How long does it take for a coin to deteriorate? I have found them from shiny new all the way to having to peel a coat off of the coin. I'm sure there are studies on these subjects and I would sure like to find out what the outcome was.

 

[Smoogle]

We have a lot of rock groynes in the area - any opinion on hunting around these?

 

[biggmike]

We have a lot of rock groynes in the area - any opinion on hunting around these?

A friend of mine just told me his daughter dropped her wedding ring in the rocks and could not find it. I think there are tons of things lost there, the problem is recovering them... You probably should have started a new thread with this question.

 

[OBN]

Good reading, By Seaweed..Soda Pop pirates

The more I learn, the less I know......

http://www.outerbanksnc.net/beachtips.html

 

[Aka Nameless]

Longshore Drift moves a lot of stuff, which is why those Groynes are there. Watch this video on it.



Longshore currents is the current in waist deep water that is moving parallel to the beach, it's created by longshore drift and moves objects and sand along the beach in the deeper, shallow water.

The vortex created by waves also picks up stuff from the bottom and throws it towards shore. Watch this video, you can see how the vortex from the waves pulls him up and towards shore.



These 3 things all tie together to create a lot of movement for rocks/targets in the shallow water, not just from deeper water to the shore, but up and down the beach as well.