were does it stop?

[DanC]

Question for any and all. Most items that we look for as an average stop at what is called the hard pack?{ie clay,rock,etc}Not including natural gold veins. But most rings, clad, silver, stop were the dirt ends and the hard pack starts. Unless they were put there.Am I mistaken in this thought?
Next question does a coin ring etc sink or does erosion just cover it up {dust ,grass clippings, and so on}?
I hear of people finding really old coins on top of the ground or just under the surface but then find a 1978 penny 4 inches deep and a silver dime at 5 ta 6+.
God its going to be a long winter and it hasn't even really started.

 

[khouse]

I have as you said found older coins very shallow 1 or 2 inches and a crappin zink at 5. It's a crap shoot out there!

 

[TobyH]

...they stop when the going gets tough. Some may not go more than an inch before hitting a rock or root or something and stop. Others keep going while the soil is "clean" and there's nothing to stop them.

At least that's my theory. Sometimes the simplest answer is the right answer.

Toby

 

[DavHut]

...but they can be summed up simply:
1. They sink
2. They get covered up.
3. There are no absolutes

Some say the worms are busy around and under coins and they slowly sink. Ditto moles and gophers. Or cars and trucks rumble by and they sink from vibration.
Of course the grass and leaves and fine soil that blows or washes in covers them. And lets not forget micro cosmic dust that settles from outer space (I actually read this one).
I distinctly remember an old tree in FL, which had loose sandy soil alla round. The coins under it were shallow and nearly at the surface. They were all well past a hundred years old.
Earth moving equipmant also accounts for some changes to the depths as soil is deposited and removed.

Something happens, though. Sometimes they are deep and sometimes they are not.

 

[awhitster]

I think when it rains real hard, the ground liquefies. Then the weight of the water pushes the coins down. Unless, like already said, they get stopped by a root, rock, etc. Of course, that's my theory.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Don't forget the dust from the eruption of Mt. St. Helens that is still circling the earth in the jet streams. When it blew it blew one cubic mile of earth and rock 80,000-100,000 feet straight up.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah I've found a coin from the 1700's at two inches and clad at ten in the same area. I think Mother Nature just likes to play with our minds.

Bill

 

[down-and-dirty]

Dan, A good question with probably more than one answer. I just take my trusty 2500 and dig it all.