Question...

smokinjoe925

I have a question for you guys, in your personial experience, is it easier to dig in muddy soil or dry (like in bentforks VTH round 10 pics). Just wondering because its kind of a hassle to dig in muddy ground, especially if the water keeps filling in the hole. Lol, a little random but its been on my mind for a few days. Thanks

Joe

BentFork

If it's in the desert, it's very easy after a rain. The ground is very loose and easy to turn. During the summer, it's hard as Portland cement like I mentioned. Mud is pain. I don't even detect in parks after a torrent of rain. It gets everywhere and you can't break up a plug like you can if it's just moist. You probably will hear about the "halo effect". After a coin or object has been in the ground for a while, the ground around it will have a halo. This is caused by oxides given off by the metal leaching in the soil. Good wet ground will give off a great halo aiding in detecting. The desert doesn't give that effect until is gets wet. The oxides are in the soil, but they don't activate for lack of better word until it's rained. Once it drys out, the halo abates again. I like loamy soils. Good old organic dirt with sand mixed in. Like what you will find at a horse track or like peanuts are raised in. It stays wet and turns easy. Clay is out! Central Texas is hell to detect in. It's not sloppy, but it won't turn easy with a digging tool.

Gary

DesertRat

Gary is definitely right on with the definition of our desert dirt. After a rain you can step on the ground and sink in several inches. Try that same ground on a hot July day and you need a jackhammer to even break the surface.

smokinjoe925

Lol, thanks for the tips. Well we are going to south Arizona durring spring break to MD for a week. So do you think the ground will be ok, or is like your discription of Texas? Thanks

Joe

BentFork

I lived in Tucson in the late 70s and early 80s. It's desert alluvial soil like here in the Mojave. In east Texas the ground is loamy. In central it's clay-like. In west Texas around Midland and on westward until you reach the Pacific ocean near San Diego, it's alluvial soil. Geologically, from just east of the Rio Grande rift zone to the Pacific Ocean, this area was an inland sea for millions of years and the deposits put down were fossiliferous limestone and igneous rock. In other words, it's millions of years of the remains of sea creatures and basalt as opposed to organic matter like grasses and trees. Added to that is high tectonic activity and volcanic mountains that have pushed up over millions of years. As the rain runs off the mountains, you have sedimentary rock forming and igneous rock being deposited in the valleys and basins. There's no organic component to keep it soft. And since there aren't nutrients in the soil, nothing grows except cacti.

You can plan on it being hard unless it comes a good rain a few days before you detect. DesertRat talked about right after a rain you sink in deep when you walk on it. That's correct. Right after a rain the ground is wet slurry cement. It's the same way in So Az. But, once the majority of the water has run off and evaporated, the ground is moist and easy to work. Three weeks later though it is like before the rain, hard pan. Maybe you'll get lucky and it'll rain a couple of days before your visit. The really bad thing is you can know there is something 6 inches down, but unless you have a pick, a Lesche digger isn't going to cut it. It'll have to keep. I have markers out in places to dig after the rains come. Seriously! I know it'll still be there.

Good luck and HH. Let us know how you do.

Gary

lordmarcovan

<< <i>Question >>



One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite groups of all time: The Moody Blues.

Guess that means it would be on my "Top Ten" list.

Probably my Top Five list, in the soundtrack of my life.





<< <i>Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war?
'Cos when we stop and look around us,
There is nothing that we need,
In a world of persecution
That is burning in its greed.

Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door
Because the truth is hard to swallow
That's what the war of love is for

It's not the way that you say it
When you do those things to me
It's more the way that you mean it
When you tell me what will be

And when you stop and think about it
You won't believe it's true
That all the love you've been giving
Has all been meant for you.

I'm looking for someone to change my life,
I'm looking for a miracle in my life
And if you could see what it's done to me,
To lose the love I knew
Could safely lead me through.

Between the silence of the mountains,
And the crashing of the sea,
There lies a land I once lived in,
And she's waiting there for me,
But in the grey of the morning,
My mind becomes confused,
Between the dead and the sleeping,
And the road that I must choose.

I'm looking for someone to change my life,
I'm looking for a miracle in my life
And if you could see what it's done to me,
To lose the love I knew,
Could safely lead me to
The land that I once knew,
To learn as we grow old
The secrets of our soul.

It's not the way that you say it
When you do those things to me
It's more the way you really mean it
When you tell me what will be

Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war?
'Cos when we stop and look around us,
There is nothing that we need,
In a world of persecution
That is burning in its greed. >>







Oh. Sorry. You really did have a question.

I don't have much to add, except to say that the answer to your question really depends on the soil type.