10/5/18 Report - Fort Pierce Ring Found and Returned. Movement of Sand and Beach Scalloping. Mining Cremations.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Dug Encrusted Object.

The surf has decreased, but that isn't all bad.  While I like to detect while items are being washed out of the bank, the rough surf will make it impossible to detect the entire beach.  When the surf decreases you can get to areas that were impossible to detect when the waves were breaking higher on the beach.  The above encrusted object and a few other encrusted objects were found after the surf decreased a little.

I didn't check all of the beaches, but I think they were pretty much all the same.  There could have been some exceptions, but I didn't see any.  I even took a look at some beach cams, like the one for Jupiter beach, and it looked pretty much the same too.

Jupiter Beach Cam Image From 10/4

The water didn't get near the dunes there.  Also note the sea weed.

We had a long period of good surf but just east winds.

The water can move sand and other items onto the beach or off the beach.  When the waves are hitting the beach straight on, the flow decreases as the water goes up the slope until it stops.  That is obvious.  As the flow coming up the slope decreases in force, sand is dropped.  If the flow back down the slope continued uninterruptedly with enough force, the sand would be washed back into the water, but when the sand is dropped without washing back into the water the beach builds.

There are a variety of factors that determine if the beach is going to build or erode.  Remember that it takes more force to get settled sand to start moving than it takes to keep it moving. When the force decreases to a certain point, the sand or objects will settle once again.  There is a certain amount of force required to get it moving, but less force required to keep it moving.  When the force decreases to below what is required to keep it moving, it will settle out.

Illustration Showing Two Dips on a Scalloped Beach.

When you have a scalloped beach, the water coming in can bring sand as usual, however the incoming water washes off the slopes on the sides of the dips and is directed towards the middle of the dip.  Sand is dropped at the higher edges, building the slopes, and sand is washed out of the middle of the dip where the returning water gathers with more force.  There are a lot of factors, but that is a big part of it.

Sand differs in size and shape, as do other objects.  Different objects require a different amount of force to get them moving, and they'll also drop out at different points.

A few days ago I asked you to think about if the weight or shape of an object has more to do with how quickly or deeply an object will sink into beach sand.  I forgot about that question when all of the weather and high surf was in the news, but I'll talk about it more tomorrow or sometime soon.

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Here is a story about a long-time Fort Pierce detectorist, Jennifer Gregory, who found and returned a wedding band lost by a kayaker in knee-deep water along the Fort Pierce.

https://www.wptv.com/news/region-st-lucie-county/fort-pierce/woman-with-metal-detector-finds-lost-wedding-band-in-water-in-fort-pierce-inlet

Thanks to Jorge Y. for sending me that link.

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Gold and precious metals filtered from cremated bodies are being sold.

Here is that link.

https://www.thelocal.ch/20181002/zurich-crematorium-starts-to-trade-precious-metals-filtered-from-peoples-ashes

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The Treasure Coast surf will run between three and six feet for the next few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net