When auto sensitivity drops below 10

[akelley]

Guys,
I went to a new site today where I couldn't get my auto sensitivity to go above 10 in most places. No grass, just fine sandy soil, holding up a lot of old tall trees. Is this a characteristic of heavy mineralization?

Thanks
-Alex

 

[TheMarshall]

Hello Alex.............Auto sens. below 10.........!!!!

Mineralised???..............more like paralysed.

You betcha it's mineralised.....How about digging a hole or two and trying to see what the sub-strata is like.

Any idea of the geology of the area? Perhaps it may be man-made infill?

You will need a smooth and constant height sweep to get anything out.

Naturally, numbers will be lower also.

Keep us posted on your progress with this one..............Best wishes...............TheMarshall

 

[akelley]

Thanks Marshall. With a little research on the web, I found the site is primarily sandstone, with smaller amounts of shale, chert, limestone, and conglomerate. The other half of the site are sand deposits. Therefore, must be something else beside mineralization. I look into it further and let everyone know the outcome.

-Alex


By the way - I found that the USGS has a GIS database of geologic map data organized by State. You can view in your browser or overlay on top of Google Earth. You can download your state at http://tin.er.usgs.gov/geology/state/

 

[Gaz]

...........the only thing to do there dude is toggle "Ground" to "Difficult" to help the ETrac handle the ground better. Maybe try it in Manual Sensitivity but keep an eye on the suggested setting and go 1 or 2 higher.

10 is indeed low. Never seen 10 before whilst hunting. Rest assured though, if the ETrac is stable in those conditions, it will beat any other detector on that ground. That's what they were designed for, heavy mineralised conditions in Australia.

Best of luck,

Gaz

 

[Chris(SoCenWI)]

I'm going to go against the masses and say it is most likely electrical noise that is keeping the numbers low. I'm even going to say mineralization doesn't have much to do with where you can run sensitivity.

Are there any power wires around? Dog fence, etc? In town I can often only run 15-18 on my XS. Sometimes lower directly under lines. Out in the country 25 and above. Same dirt.

Also, all the constant noise when running little discrimination: many say it is mineralization. I say it is just lots of junk in the ground. Again, been to some sites that once you get away from any construction the machine quiets WAY down. Same dirt. Mainly notice that up hear in Northern MN, where there are areas that have never been built on, farmed, etc.

Chris

 

[akelley]

Thanks everyone. I did a little research on the web and found that the site is primarily sandstone & mudstone. The other half, where I poked around a little, is dune sand. So its not mineralization. I look into it a little further and post on this thread again.

-Alex

By the way - I found that the USGS has a GIS database of map data by state which you can show in Google Earth or in your browser