Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| WWII Land Mine Uncovered by Detectorist Near Reef Road in Indian River County. |
A man using a metal detector made an unexpected find on an Indian River County Beach Tuesday...
Here is the link submitted by Jorge Y.
https://www.wptv.com/news/region-indian-river-county/old-land-mine-found-on-beach-in-indian-river-county-sheriffs-office-says
And another link on the same story submitted by DJ.
https://www.newsbreakapp.com/n/0Nm6iA9f?pd=03GjMPEp&s=i3
Thanks guys.
It appears that it was found down around Sandy Point.
I remember back around thirty years ago when they removed a lot of the obstacles from the shallow water used for landing exercises at Avalon Park, which is a bit farther south.
I always wished that I had taken photos of the huge barge they brought down A1A to use for that. It was as wide as A1A, both lanes.
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The Indian River makes a convenient observation station for watching how water moves sand and things. The waves are not as big, and there are other differences, but there are also many similarities to the beach.
You can take a look at the river and get some idea of what is going on at the beach. It won't always be correct, but it will often give you a good idea.
The one thing you can usually tell from the river, is if the wind is causing waves and the direction of the wind swell. When the river shows white water coming in from the northeast, for example, there is a good chance that the beach will also be having some good waves from the northeast. You can take a look at the river before deciding if you want to go over to the beach.
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| Concrete Block At Bottom of West Bank of Indian River Lagoon. |
Above is a concrete block that I originally found in the water and moved to the edge of the water. It is one of the landmarks I occasionally use to observe the movement of sand.
I brought the block in from out in the water (which might explain my back problems) and placed it against the lowest block on the last sheet on concrete erosion control sheets that were installed after the 2004 hurricanes.
The block is roughly 27 inches, by 12 inches by 7.5 inches. It rests on the edge of the lowest block with about a six inch overlap. For a short while I had it standing straight up. You can't see the last block in the photo because it was covered by sand when I took the photo.
During the nearly fifteen years since I positioned it there, the block has not moved a noticeable amount and the level of sand has not varied up and down any more than a about a foot. As you know, we've had some good storms in that time period. The top corner is only visible some of the time, and most of the block is visible at other times. I can't remember a time in those fifteen years seeing the block entirely covered, but it has come close. When the tides and wind is pushing water against the bank, there might be as much as five feet of water over the block. Still the sand has not varied at that spot a lot.
The connected block sheets were originally at about a thirty or forty degree angle, I would guess. For most of the fifteen years, they stayed put very much undisturbed. In the past two or three years, however, the sand is getting moved and the block sheets are falling in.
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| Erosion Under Block Sheets. |
During the 2004 storms, some of Indian River Drive fell in. A smaller area fell in once sometime after that where a homeowner did not allow the blocks to be put in. The homeowners in the area own down to the river - not down to the road - so the land along the east side of the road is private property.
Generally speaking everything is on a smaller scale along the river than on the ocean beach. That isn't surprising, since the waves are smaller. The erosion is smaller too.
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| Erosion Exposing Old Tire. |
The tire shown above was covered one day, but when the wind shifted from southeast to northeast, it got uncovered again.
Some of the items along the west side of the river are remarkably stationary.
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Line of Cinder Blocks Running Perpendicular to the Bank and Old Truck Springs.
Both the blocks running east/west in the above photo and the truck springs in the photo above have not moved over the past twenty or more years despite all the storms. They were there and remained unmoved even after the 2004 hurricanes, which heavily eroded the west bank in spots. One of the reasons for that is that there is a good hundred yards of shallow water along the east side of the river.
It took a good storm to move it about a mile originally, but nothing strong enough to move it inches or feet has occurred since. Besides marine growth that now weighs it down, I suspect sand has filled the openings.
The biggest problem with the river as an experimental observation station is that the concrete erosion sheets were placed soon after the 2004 storms. It is therefore difficult to know how much is due to the man-made changes rather than mother nature.
The relatively small amount of erosion in front of the bank is primarily due to the large expanse of shallow water, and the concrete sheets definitely reduced erosion to the bank. You seldom see as much as a foot of erosion in front of the banks, yet that can be enough to uncover a lot of junk. I was starting to think the erosion control sheets would stay in place relatively undisturbed for a very long time, but they are now showing a lot damage from erosion. I haven't studied how the water gets in behind the sheets and washes the sand out, but it obviously does. The sheets have withstood lots of storms but now seem more vulnerable. The point is that you can look at the river and learn a lot. The general principles of how water moves sand and objects is the same in the river as on the beach. --- The surf is very small today, but as you can see from the predictions below, it will be building.
Happy hunting, TreasureGuide@comcast.net |
