Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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Anyhow, the bottom wave in the illustration shows something similar to what has been happening on the Treasure Coast lately with the calm surf.
I showed quiet a few photos showing the waves breaking in shallow water and rushing over the sand in the shallow water in front of the beach. The main difference with what is happening on the Treasure Coast and what is shown in the illustration is that many places on the Treasure Coast have a very flat front sand bench instead of the rolling sand bottom shown in the bottom part of the illustration. The waves are breaking out fifty or so yards and then washing in over the fairly flat sand in the shallow water. In many places there is almost no sand bar.
Many of the front beaches on the Treasure Coast are nearly flat too, being just a little higher than the sand in the water. That happens when the surf is calm and fine sand is being moved. You'll note that those flat front-beaches seem firm since the grains are fine and settle compactly.
Looking at the top part of the illustration, to the left of the sand bar, the water is deep enough that the waves aren't breaking. The wave breaks as it crosses the sand bar. The crashing wave picks up particles and moves them in to be deposited on the beach front. There is, however, and under tow as the water rushes back down the slope.
A certain amount of velocity is required to pick up particles and other items. If the undertow is strong enough it will carry a lot of sand back down the slope and into the water.
In this illustration we have so far ignored various factors such as the angle of the wave, and also the different densities and shapes of objects, sand and otherwise.
The key thing to know about that is that different size particles, and different objects require a different amount of force to dislodge them and the different particles and different objects will also drop out of the current at different velocities.
In the past I've referred to the point at which an particular particle or object will start to move as the trigger point and the point at which it settles, as the drop point.
I'll pick up there in another post. I don't want to try to do too much at once because the number of factors multiply and it becomes confusing and difficult to explain. I'll try to stick to a small number of principles at a time, so if you get them down one by one as we go, you'll be able to put it all together as we proceed.
Another important thing to know is how sand bars move. You'll get some idea of that from this illustration as well. That is not so important if you are looking for very old items, but it is important if you are hunting items recently dropped by swimmers. There are times when the sand bar will move in and times when it will move out. Check the eroding side of any bar where people have been congregating.
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A woman found an 8.5 karat diamond in Crater of Diamonds State Park.
Park officials said Friday that the gem found by Bobbie Oskarson of Longmont, Colorado, is the fifth largest diamond found since the park was established in 1972...
Here is the link.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/06/27/colorado-finds-852-carat-diamond-in-arkansas-state-park/?intcmp=ob_article_sidebar_video&intcmp=obinsite
You can visit Crater of Diamonds State Park and for a small fee hunt for diamonds. Maybe a good little vacation trip.
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There is no better resource for finding good detecting sites than talking to an old timer who grew up in the area. I was looking at a satellite view on Google Earth of the area where I grew up. When I looked at that, I could see clear as day where two old barns were, where old trees were, and a nice spring house where the local farmer kept the milk cool in fresh spring water, a corn crib and other buildings that were no longer there.
There used to be a an old shed that was full of old embossed bottles back when I was a youngster. I was attracted to those old bottles even then. I could see the exact spot of three old bottle dumps even though there was no longer any sign of them. Who knows how old they were when I was young? They were old even back then.
One of the bottle dumps was on a hill over a creek. We used to get bottles there, run up creek and throw them in, then run back down to where there was a rock outcropping on a cliff and sit there and shoot the bottles as they came by. I wonder how many good old bottles got shot that way.
And I knew of even older stuff there. The older generation told me about things that were before my time, like where the really old school house used to be and where they found arrow heads when planting potatoes when they were young.
When kids play around an area for years, it seems like the area gets permanently stamped in memory. Not only do I know where things were, but I could walk to those precise spots like they were there today even though not a trace remains. Most people today would have no idea that those things ever existed and if they did research them somehow, they wouldn't know them in such great detail. I'll have to make a detecting trip there again someday and dig up some of the past that is most meaningful to me.
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A couple Fort Pierce boys found a box of military medals in the trash. They were dumped after a home burglary. Leave to young boys to be out exploring.
http://www.wptv.com/news/region-st-lucie-county/fort-pierce/two-fort-pierce-boys-discover-military-medals-tossed-into-trash
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The predictions are for another week of small surf on the Treasure Coast. More of the same. It will change some day. Be ready.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
The predictions are for another week of small surf on the Treasure Coast. More of the same. It will change some day. Be ready.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
