Coin Sink Rates

maxxkatt

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North Atlanta, GA
I read with interests Carol's sticky post on this sub-forum about coin sink rate. Over the years I have read many posts on this subject. So I recently googled "sink rate of coins metal detecting" and got quite a few posts/articles on the subject.

What did I learn from this further research?

Depends more on the soil conditions of where you hunt.
The amount of earth worms in your hunt area.
Number of earthquakes that may or may not liquify the soil in your area.
The amount of tree leaves and grass clippings deposited every year.

It seems that density of the metal has the least amount to do with how deep a metal object goes over time.

So my conclusion is you just have to hunt your own area and decide for yourself.

For instance in my favorite park along the river it has a sandy soil and we get heavy rains in the winter and summer.

So I have found tin cans over 15" deep.
pop tops and pull tabs in the 3-4" range with the ring pull tabs being slightly deeper.

Wheat pennies 3 - 7" deep. and a silver Washington quarter at 3" deep.

So there seems to be not hard and fast general rule.

I have seen in the many posts on this subject from four of the largest metal detecting forums and that many of the post contradict many of the other post concerning coin and jewelry sink rates.

But I still like to believe that in my hunting areas older coins are deeper than clad and all coins are typically deeper than pop tops and ring pull tabs. There are always many reported exceptions, but I base my hunting strategy with my CTX3030 on this general rule for my hunting areas.

Probably the most fascinating post/article is here if you wish to wade through what Charles Darwin had to say on the subject.

https://www.detectorprospector.com/...shell, coins and,materials build up over time!

scroll down to BigGuySky's post for the article.
 
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Deep or shallow, the faster I can safely retrieve them, the more chance I’ll have of coming across something Good every hunt!!! I bet I look like a chicken in a yard with a bucket of crickets all around him😁
 
I think weather and organic matter like roots and leaves will sink a coin. When we have a sidewalk tear out where the original walking surface was boardwalk they would tear out the wood and pour concrete then tear out the old concrete the coins would only be 2 to 4 inches deep (maybe due to road vibration) almost never deeper but we are only talking 120 year old dirt. In the parks with open ground we get to 6 to 8 inches deep for same age coin. The halo of the park coins are greater due to moisture and fertilizer than the sidewalk coins which are in a somewhat dry environment for their dirt life. Now at the beach you can drop a coin near the water and watch it sink we only find coins that hang up in rocks or where there is a bedrock shelf to stop it. (Legal disclaimer) conditions may vary at your location consult you shovel and detector for useful information, heheh
 
im ressurecting this old thread just to say as a newb idk what to make of the science behind it. Its weird Few weeks ago by my front porch we found a late 1800s to early1900s shotshell head less than 2 inches down. and few inches away 3 inches deeper was a miller lite pint screw on top that was probably mine from
a bonfire 10
years ago lol. sure does seem strange sometimes.
 
So your saying I can't just put this question in ChatGPT and get a verified and true answer :D :laughing:
 
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