Mineralization:huh:thinkingabout:

[woodennickel]

OK, I'm new. I have studied and studied, and searched and searched, but I still have questions about it. What? MINERALIZATION!!!

I have read post after post. I have read the classic definition. But it seems that nobody gets basic, or down and dirty, or plain speaking about how to recognize it. There is a lot on how to manage it, but if I can't recognize it, I can't manage it.

I thought it not to be a problem here in West Virginia (west central on the Ohio river), but then I read about red clay, and boy, do we have a lot of that.

So I really need to know how to recognize it, because I will soon decide on what machine I am going to buy.

Please flood me with info and I'll soak it up. I like the technical stuff.

All help is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[CODY]

Mike IMHO I wouldn't let it bother me too much. We have a lot of clay here in Ms too. But I have had no problems with it. I think most of your better machines will GB with out any problems. I for one am not the tech type. More of a turn on and go kind of guy. I have had no problems with the Fishers and I think the Minelab guys will tell you the same. I ahve run into nothing that would not GB. But I havent tried a beach yet. Salt may create another problem. All IMHO. Merry CHRISTmas and HH

 

[del]

mineralization is the presence of iron or other metals and or salts in the ground that is broken down to minute particles . the heavier the particle presence the more it affects your machines capability to detect coins rings ect. efficiently. most machines can be affected by mineralization and in alot of places in the U.S. the mineralization might not be that bad and the detector can adjust itself when you first ground balance your detector. the red clay down in parts of Virginia and the south is red because of oxidized iron in the clay and in certain areas is very difficult to detect accurately after a few inches. Meaning you might pickup that coin or button at 3 or 4 inches but after that the coin or button doesn't sound like a good target you would dig . we all see the effects of mineralization on targets that are deeper than 3 inches or more , for example a barber or mercury dime sounds like a silver dime at 2 inches but they don't always sound like silver at say 8 or 10 inches all the time and their vdi numbers might be skewed considerably lower because of the iron levels in the ground . very heavy minerals like iron or salts can actually mask good targets completely . i hope this helps you out some .

Dan

 

[Cheap Thrills]

My standard T2 will give a ground mineralization reading upon the completion of ground balancing . Here are how the numbers break down from the manual . Also pictured is my T2 display after ground balancing on my front lawn . Just put this in as I thought it may be of some interest . :groovy:

 

[woodennickel]

:thinkingabout:
Dan - Thanks, that is some good info. I have seen that red dirt in central Virginia, and it is....well....red, real red! Here, we have a lot of very heavy and very red clay, and yellow clay, especially on the ridges, so is it safe to say that the soil is heavily mineralized? I believe that I understand it better now when I recall that clay soil has the smallest particles of any soil, to the point that they have a charge and actually tie up mutrients to the point that they are unusable to plants. And hear I thought my agronomy class would never come in handy!

Sheik Yerbooty - that's neat! The numbers don't mean a lot except that my soil probably falls in the 4 category, and that helps me understand what Dan said.

I guess I still have to ask if there is a way to know ahead of time, or do I hav to go with an educated guess. The reason? I'm considering buying either a Vaquero or a Tejon. From what I read, the latter doesn't handle highly mineralized soil well. If that is inded the case, I'll go with the former or something else.

Thanks for the comments.