Thanks Bill
Perdon para mi Ignorancia de los detectores metales but I just couldn't find nothing on the aquastar, not even a price--thanks for the info.
I asked about the head hunter because just a few posts back I asked for the best PI system for rainforest soil and fresh water rivers among the the following four detectors: aquastarII, pulse 8x,minelab extreme, and goldquest ss. A couple of members recommended the headhunter while another recommended the aquastar II. I probably need to be more detailed in my questions since some conclude I mostly interested in the beach.
I do dive and spend alot of time on the beach but if you have read my two recent post, I mainly need a detector for jungle soil and streams. I am a graduate Biology student and spend a lot of time in tropical rainforests and actually have a little place just outside of a great big ol jungle and figure it wouldnt hurt to look fur a little gold while Im studying the critters. The following might help you better understand where I am coming from:
Lateritic Soils in the Tropics:
In tropical climates biota (especially organic matter) in the soil plays a much larger role than it does in temperate regions. One reason behind this fact is that soils in humid tropical zones are subject to severe rates of weathering and leaching; all "processes," both good and bad "move faster than under temperate conditions" (Bennet 1994: 277). Partly as a result of this weathering, the minerals and the oxides in the soil solution have a relatively low charge and the cation exchange capacity is very low. For example, Oxisols and other soils of the tropics dominated by kaolinite have a CEC which is one third to one sixth that of other 2:1 clay dominated soils.
Both climate and parent material are important in the pedogenic processes which go into the formation of lateritic soils. Laterite soils are formed in moist, well-drained, tropical conditions (usually in areas with a significant dry season) on a variety of different types of rocks with high iron content. Initial stages of weathering lead to the formation of kaolinite and iron oxyhydroxides. Micro and macro-level movements of iron through soil minerals also begins to occur (Nahon 1986). Next, mottled clay layers are formed. Iron oxyhydroxides continue to migrate within the soil profile, becoming more crystallized in the top horizons and eventually forming large iron-rich nodes. As weathering continues, these voids begin to fill with kaolinite and quartz grains. Further weathering leads to the ferruginization of these fill particles, as kaolinite and quartz are replaced with Fe, and purple to red indurated facies are produced. These processes complete the formation of the ferricrete soil horizon (Nahon 1986). Often ferruginous pebbly layers are formed in close association with the ferricrete horizon. They are formed from the break-down and downslope movement of pisolitic iron crusts. The end result is a "reddish matrix" made from kaolinite, goethite and "fragments of the pisolitic iron crust " (Ibid: 180).
Tell me Bill, if you think the following are good purchase plans for me. An aquastar II to cover both the jungle floor and streams, occasional scuba diving and either a shadow 5 or mxt for shallow stuff. Or maybe I could pay you to make me a water proof goldquest and shadow 5--or better yet maybe you and say beachcomber would like to go hunting with me? Ur maybe you be a thanken der aint no gold en dem der jungles?
Jon
