3/26/14 Report - Cuts On Treasure Coast On Some Beaches and Helicopter Metal Detecting

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

A Three Foot Cut on the Treasure Coast This Morning

 Since I entered my pre post, I got out to the beach to see what the cold front did as it came through with the North winds.

First off, the modern jewelry hole that I had been working with good success disappeared.

Too bad.  But when sand moves, it adds at one place and disappears at another.




What I often try to do is find where the sand just left.

It did move yesterday and this morning.  I found two beaches that were cut pretty nicely and two that weren't cut.

The cut beaches had cuts that ran hundreds of yards.  The cuts that I saw were from one foot in height up to just over four feet.

Scallops on One Treasure Coast Beach This Morning.

At some places there were scallops.

I would rate beach conditions as about 1.5 right now.  It is starting to get interesting, but from what I saw this morning I wouldn't say it is good enough for a two rating on my Treasure Coast Treasure Beach Detecting Conditions Rating Scale.

It could improve enough for an upgrade if the north winds keeps blowing. 



What has been happening lately is that the wind direction changes quickly again.  If it does change and we start getting the wind out of the East, don't expect any more improvement in conditions.



Long Cut of Two To Three Feet

 If you look closely at the face of the cuts you will notice something important. 

There is no layering.  All of the sand was of the same type and there were no layers of shells.  It was therefore probably built up during a single period of accumulation.

If you remember I commented not very long ago that a lot of sand had recently accumulated.

Unfortunately the cuts that I found this morning were where a bunch of that new sand had recently built up.  It was very mushy before.  That newly accumulated sand is what eroded.  And there were very few targets in it, and very few signals along these cuts today.

I did run into one of those stubborn targets that you can detect but not recover (DBNRs).  It was in detecting range but just beyond recovery range.  It was in the wet sand down a little over a foot, and the sand kept falling in before I could get the target out.

More Cuts This Morning.

Pictures can come in handy.  If you inspect cuts at the same location at different times, especially those that have produced targets at one time and not another, look for differences that might be clues.

One thing I am pointing out today is how the face of the cut reveals something about the history of the sand and the probability of targets coming out of it.

The sand that eroded today was in front of the beach.  The slope was very gentle. 

The eroded sand created a front beach that extended out about fifty yards at most locations.

The surf tomorrow will be about four feet.   Unfortunately they are predicting a change in direction.  They predict the wind coming out of the South/Southeast.  If that happens, the cuts will probably fill in again rather than improve.

There were very few people on the beach this morning.

One more thing, I saw very few shells where I was.  Didn't even encounter shells in the holes that I dug.

The Navy is using a helicopter equipped with a 16 magnetometers.  Flying at a height of 5 feet it can detect metal as small as two pounds.  It will detect metal down several feet.  Looks like a good way to cover a lot of ground.

Here is the link for video and article.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-metal-detecting-helicopters-20140323,0,1045196.story

Thanks for the link Doug.


One reader reports that the dredge was back south of Jupiter Inlet Tuesday.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/7/13 Report - TC Magnetometer Survey, LiDAR, Marine Growth, and Latest Cold Front

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

Mangetometer Being Towed by Helicopter
Photo submitted by Hen Hayes,
Predisent, AquaSurvey Inc.

As you know if you've been reading this blog very long, it covers a variety of topics.  One day it might be about detectors, another day about pot shards or fossils, modern jewelry, relics,  bottles, or pieces of eight and Spanish galleons.  You just never know.  And that is something I like about metal detecting.  You never know.  You never know what you might find or learn on any given day.   There is always something new.  And it touches so many different disciplines and fields of study.



Well today, it looks like I'm going a little high tech. I received an email from the President of a company named AquaSurvey Inc.  The President, Ken Hayes, told what they have been doing along the Treasure Coast.

Here is what Ken said.

For the past three weeks we have been towing a new high-tech glider along the Treasure Coast to pinpoint most all shipwrecks.  The resulting maps will give us a bird’s eye view of several hundred years wrecking along the coast.  We don’t know what the charts will reveal, that’s why we did it.  However, we suspect that it will be a great help to private salvage small business entrepreneurs and the larger publicly traded salvage companies.  We were amazed that we were able to collect extremely high-quality data from an airborne potassium-vapor magnetometer glider being towed at 60 MPH.  Data gathered from a major survey like this one (perhaps the largest ever performed) will take weeks to process.



Back in my 12/22/13 post I reported on rumors of a strange helicopter that some people noticed flying up and down the coast.  I suspect that this might have been it.

Ken didn't mention any reality TV shows being involved.

Thanks for the information Ken.


Other technologies have been very productive for revealing land sites too.  Here is a National Geographic article on how LiDAR revealed features of lost 18th Century New England sites.

LiDAR Images
Source: National Geographic Magazine
Link immediately below.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140103-new-england-archaeology-lidar-science/

Good article.


When you find an item, see what the surface tells you.   It might give you some important clues to where it has been and where it came from.   Signs of marine live growth can tell you that the item was once in the water.  The extent of the growth can give you an item of how long.  So can the extent of corrosion.

Here is an article about how vases from sunken ships create a good base for many types of marine life.

http://www.livescience.com/42333-sunken-vases-biology-experiments.html


On the Treasure Coast today the wind is from the North.  The wind increased later this morning, creating white caps on the river pretty much like it did the last time a cold from passed through.  We got some erosion then.  I expect about the same thing this time.  Some small erosion, but not enough to improve detecting conditions much.

Unfortunately the direction of the waves will come more from the East tomorrow.  Again, that is pretty much what happened after the last cold front.

On Thursday a higher surf is predicted, but the wind will be form the East then.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net