Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
I've been thinking about presenting this topic for a long time, but it is difficult to present. There are so many variables and it is so complex that it is hard to illustrate and explain. Everything I am going to present is simplified, but that is the way it has to be.
It does NOT apply to steep areas or areas that the waves are breaking on. It applies mostly to the mid and back beach areas that are only gently sloped.
If you talk about coins or things sinking at the beach, one way to visualize it is like objects sinking in water. In other words, gravity would pull them down to a lower level without anything else happening. That is not how it happens in sand.
You can set a coin or ring on the sand and it is not going anywhere unless the sand is agitated. Try it for yourself. It doesn't matter how long the object sits on the sand, it isn't going anywhere unless you stir things up.
Illustration A, which shows three objects on the beach. They are going to sit there until the sand moves. Assume the objects all have the same shape and size and density and the force of the water is enough to move the sand but not the objects. If six inches of sand is removed from that area of the beach, the objects will then be down about six inches and on the new surface (NS), as shown in illustration B.
They will stay there on the new surface until more sand is moved from under them (again the assumption is that the water force is enough to move the sand but not the objects).
If more sand is moved while the force of the water is not enough to move the objects, the objects will drop down some more. Remember, I'm oversimplifying here. However if the sand returns (while the water force is still strong enough to move the sand but not the objects, the objects will get covered. If six inches of sand moves, but this time in the opposite direction, the objects will be under about six inches of sand.
This coming and going of sand can happen many times. If the amount of force is only great enough to move the sand, we will have some idea how deep the objects that started near the original surface will be. If additional layers of sand are moved (without the objects being moved horizontally) the objects will find the lowest layer where the sand had vacated. If, for example, three times six inches of sand was removed without any sand refilling, the objects will be down about 18 inches. In actuality that would be unusual. More commonly you would see sand eroding and then refilling to some extent in between erosion events.
My observations of local beaches seems to show that a foot or two is really about as much as you'll usually see, and that amount can put you into productive sand, and likewise cover it up when the flow of sand reverses.
More than a 100 times to 1 some amount of sand will be left covering the newly settled objects. Only when a slight wash of water, most often during a descending tide, uncovers the items will the items be exposed and laying right on the surface.
I haven't even addressed when the water force is strong enough to move the objects too. In that case, the objects, either a few or all of them will be moved some distance with the sand, but usually not as far as the sand. And if the objects have different densities, sizes or shapes, they will also separate.
Another complicating factor is the fact that the water will be usually coming in and then reversing and going back out over the same area. That means that in those cases the sand and any other objects can be moved in both directions. The relative force of the incoming and outgoing water will determine which objects are moved how much, and the important thing - the net movement. An easily moved object will can move a large distance in both directions, but one direction more than another. Sometimes other factors come into play, such as the slope or other obstacles.
Objects that move less easily will remain closer to their original spot. But there are also times such as when you have a good angle that the water comes in and washes out at more of an arc, which means a steady movement either south or north will be observed rather than only the back and forth of the up and down hill movement.
Back to the simple case in which we only consider a single sand moving wash of water. The main point is that less easily moved objects fall into lowest layer and will tend to remain there, periodically being uncovered a little and then covered more deeply again. They'll mostly stay at the same level until the sand gets moved and they reach a new lower level. That might sound like sinking, but it is not sinking into a stable layer of sand.
When you can identify an old layer of sand that has been exposed, it likely has been relatively unmoved for a long time. It will take an unusual event for it to be washed out - yet it does happened. Usually when such a layer is near the surface it will get covered fairly quickly again and then most future movements of sand will be the coming and going of the one or two feet above that, but not much more.
If the objects are in deep layers that haven't been exposed for long periods of time, they will probably remain there for long periods of time. It will take an unusual event to expose once again those deep layers. And if items get down to bedrock and caught in crevices or whatever, they will stay there until some very dramatic event occurs or somebody removes them. It will take a very unusual event, probably a sequence of events, to dislodge them naturally.
I started out trying to be specific, but couldn't cover much that way, so I got more general. Like I said at the beginning, there are a lot of variables and it isn't simple.
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Carpintero was working as an intern at the Z.D. Ramsdell Civil War Home Museum in Ceredo, West Virginia, when she discovered the letter tucked in a book. The letter, dated June 27, 1862, was written by then Lieutenant McKinley of the 23rd Ohio Infantry to Ramsdell. Carpintero found the letter Jan. 7 while researching another artifact in the museum and said her internship supervisor was just as surprised by her finding the letter as she was.
Here is the link.
I've written before about the surprises you can find in books. I once wrote an article about that for a treasure magazine.
I have many old collectible books (over a hundred years old) that have never been read. How can I tell? The pages have never been separated. They were never trimmed.
Old books are one of my favorite treasures, but unlike back forty or fifty years ago, the collectible book market is not good except for the most desired books.
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Population migrations are interesting and often result in good places to detect. Ghost towns are one good example.
Here is a link to an article about the coronavirus migration.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-great-american-migration-of-2020-on-the-move-to-escape-the-coronavirus/ar-BB11QAma?ocid=spartandhp
A few days ago I mentioned that people are escaping the high-risk New York area that has around fifty percent of the nations confirmed cases. Instead of self-isolating that are spreading the risk. There was some talk of stopping that, but it was those with means that were doing it, so it wasn't stopped.
Some local areas did take measures to stop it even if the governors didn't want to.
...From beaches and resort towns to mountain cabins to rural family homesteads, places far from densely packed cities are drawing people eager to escape from infection hotspots. But virus fugitives often are running into fierce opposition on their routes, including Florida’s effort to block New Yorkers from joining their relatives in the Sunshine State, a police checkpoint keeping outsiders from entering the Florida Keys, and several coastal islands closing bridges to try to keep the coronavirus at bay...
As per the TV news, there are so many private jets from New York now at the Palm Beach airport that there is no more parking space.
The blue state elites are now escaping to the culturally backward blue-collar red states for refuge. Actually those who could always did.
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The surf will increase to 3 - 5 feet in a few days.
Act responsibly not selfishly. Think of others as much as yourself.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
