Detecting wet ground

Hi everyone, this question may be answered in the manual for the 4500 but I don't have mine yet. And is prompted by the fact we have had about 6 or 8 inches of rain in the last 2 days here in the ville. Does wet ground affect detecting? I am thinking about a 17" elliptical NF coil for my 4500 (when it arrives lol) if that may make a difference.

Cheers to all and may your detector squeal out a big one today.


B

SerialDelta wrote:Hi everyone, this question may be answered in the manual for the 4500 but I don't have mine yet. And is prompted by the fact we have had about 6 or 8 inches of rain in the last 2 days here in the ville. Does wet ground affect detecting? I am thinking about a 17" elliptical NF coil for my 4500 (when it arrives lol) if that may make a difference.

Cheers to all and may your detector squeal out a big one today.


B

G'day SD, what I have found is that if the ground has a wet then dry layer it causes a lot of noise in the detector (ground noise type interference).

If the ground is evenly moist it is ok and easier to dig. If it is very wet then any targets just seem to get stuck in balls of mud and clay and it's all a bit messy.

I preffer dry ground myself, but sometimes you have just gotta make the best of whats in front of you.

cheers dave

Thanks Dave, well at least one advantage to when it rains in the North, its not too cold! And, in the winter when its cool its usually dry.. all I have to do now is find somewhere to go

Cheers

B

Sounds like Claremont would be the place to go for you B

Robert

Hi Robert, yes I think it wont be long after I get my detector I'll be heading down that way. But its got to stop raining first lol.. Any hints on where to go?

B

There was much disscussion about this subject some time back but can't seem to find the link to it.....Good interesting read.

I have found while the ground is all wet (satuarated) if you will the metal objects in the ground seem to be a better conductor if you will and stand out much more than in hot dry conditions

Hi Serial
If you put wet ground into the search box at the top right of page you will see a thread I started on this subject.
By the way Im in Townsville to & yes Im growing webbed feet, How long are you staying in Townsville? there is a local metal detecting club here of which I am a member they organise 6 or so trips per year, if you want I can give you details.
cheers
Lee

Gday


I have found that recently wetted ground is noisy and really variable in some places, if the spot is highly mineralised already the recent water makes it harder to detect with added signal confusion, it seems to create other layers of minerisation as the water sits in different layers, and apart from this its really messy when your scratching about with it sticking to your boots and pick etc.

The best time I think is about two or three days after the area has been saturated and the water has had time to penetrate more deeply into the ground, this seems to have the added effect of giving the detector better penetration and also it cools the ground and makes it quieter.

The other benefit of course is that the heavily flowing water removes some of the overburden in creeks and flood plain areas giving you the chance of getting previously missed deeper targets, after extremely heavy rain these are the areas to hit first.


cheers

stayyerAU

Morning all,
Some years back I spent the time clearing "log jams" in a creek that had already given up some sizeable nuggets. The debris across the creek acted like a dam walls and over a metre of sand built up.
When I returned to the area after a rain bearing depression had passed through, the build up of sand had washed down the creek leaving the bedrock almost exposed.
gold laying there barely covered..

Peter

Thank you all for the advice. Well if there were any gold around Townsville you'd prolly find it out on the reef now! But hey, we need the rain , and have to take it however it comes.
Should have a few weeks holiday in the book by the time QLD starts to dry out and hopefully will have my new 4500 too.

Cheers

B