Where is the "Gold Line" when stream takes a "U Turn?"

[Old Dirtbag]

Hello All,

I have been dredging in a tributary of this stream and finding some small flakes and pickers. The main channel of the stream makes a dramatic "U turn" or more like a "V turn" in the river channel. Where should I dredge in hopes of following the "Gold Line" in the sharp turn in the stream?

Any info is greatly appreciated!

 

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[Oddjob]

Is there any water standing or depressions on top of that oxbow.

 

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[Old Dirtbag]

Water is standing in both oxbows in one aerial photo from 2004. The current channel was muddy in the pic. The older, outer oxbow is very shallow, but holding water when pic taken.

 

[Hoser John]

Once the REAL flow is interrupted and convoluted with a stinkn' dam you can throw the deposition book out the window as no longer a natural occurance but man made chaos-bummer-John

 

[Kenmitch]

My guess is the current path is the regulated flows path. Without getting ones feet on the ground it would be harder to get a feeling which of the two remaining ones are the original. The 2nd could be current high water flow as well as the original flow.

 

[KevinInColorado]

So the punchline here is get some survey flags and do some sampling. And then some more sampling. With three colors of flag you can mark each sample spot a color to show no/some/good gold and the step back and see the pattern.

 

[deserdog]

Sampling is always the key to finding gold. You can move a mountain of dirt, but if there is no gold to begin with, you won't end up with any gold!

 

[Oddjob]

Got on some crazy good ground once in Norway at our claim, also an oxbow and there was a decent depression on it. I would have not bothered with it but the bedrock was exposed at the start. Figured it was not too much so we put a dredge in there, only got about cubic meters of matiral out of that depresion and then another 25 digging out dry material.

Still that claim was only good for about 2.7 grams per cubic meter and that little oxbox ran an average of 4.4 grams. The fun only lasted about a day, got it all cleaned out and then had to get back on our normal stuff. But it was a rush while it lasted.

Never seen it before or after that though, but its a hobby and not a job, sure folks who do this for a living have seen it.

 

[benny]

Sounds like you're in a relatively flat section of the river and the river is meandering. If true, then there probably won't be a gold line. This is because the meanders will always keep moving. My guess is that the river is running relitavely slowly and the gold will drop out where the river valley widens and before the meanders.

 

[Old Dirtbag]

If the creek meanders, does it tend to deposit gold differently? Where should I test/dredge in the creek?

 

[benny]

If the creek meanders, does it tend to deposit gold differently? Where should I test/dredge in the creek?

Hi Dirtbag.
No, it doesn't deposit differently. But, because the meanders are always moving down the stream, what once was the inside bend will eventually become the outside bend. The river will undulate down the valley floor like a snake. I can't find a decent video showing this happening, but this video shows the formation of a thalweg and how the channel changes.

 

[Jeff95531]

WOW That's some good stuff benny. Do my river next. Thanks for posting!

 

[Jason in Enid]

That was a great video! This is also why if you have a pinch-point with rocky/mountainous ground on both sides, you should concentrate on that and just downstream of it.

 

[Reed Lukens]

Sounds like your talking about a river choked with hydraulic tailings. The bottom could be anywhere from 20' to 200' deep. I think I would start with a D575A and a gravel plant...
Post a pic...

 

[Hunt4gold]

Old D - Any chance you could take a screen shot of Google Earth of the bends -- and a few bends before and after would help. Should not give the spot away and then we could have a really good discussion. There are so many variables that can cause this sharp of a bend and oxbow -- a stream with numerous meanders has certain characteristics, streams that run straight for a distance, then start to have bends, are another. Changes in stream features are often caused by stratigraphic formation changes -- such as a more resistant layer, which could be any thing from bedrock to clays, to a more dense alluvial deposit, etc. Sounds like a puzzle to be solved... Google Earth screen caps?

 

[benny]

WOW That's some good stuff benny. Do my river next. Thanks for posting!

Too much time on my hands.

 

[Old Dirtbag]

I will do my best to post some Google Earth pics of the bends ASAP. I like this conversation, I am learning a lot.

 

[Hunt4gold]

Great Old-D -- We can provide better theories with those images. You may also want to provide some details about the stream bed makeup before/in/after the bends - cobbles, gravels, sands, etc.