Average depth of coins in undisturbed ground

[49er12]

Not going to apologize for my curious mind, but be open minded, even if we had a detector that could go 2 or 3 feet deep would that be insignificant to what is a depth not needed for coins. I guess what I’m saying is most coins are located within reason in undisturbed ground. I mean heck the oceans have much more than be imagined but is untouchable for reasons of the obvious getting to it. But on what we consider land , ground surface what percentage is very obtainable.i guess what can we expect to find afoot or so versus deeper , r we asthe saying goes so close but yet so far away, thanks

 

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[BillA]

no meaningful average
some soil (in specific localities) accumulates and some erodes
you can find coins on the surface and in some parts they will be 4+ feet down, many factors at play

Bill

 

[bowwinkles]

There are so many variables. Weather, amount of plant live, seasonal changes, degree of slope, and traffic. Take a normal lawn area, and average weather where you do have winter frost. The grass that is made dormate by the cold will compost and grow at maybe an inch or two in a couple of years. This would put the coin dropped at about two inches. Another scenario might be where you are in deep sandy area and you have a heavy traffic highway near which causes a degree of vibrations, the heavy items may settle down through the sand depending on the degree of vibrations. Those who chase the civil war items and are in the heavy woods may very well find the foot deep items. The many years of composting will cause the soil to grow to that amount in those type of situations. Beach areas are the victim of the surf and depending on the degree of storm surge can either remove or deposit feet of material. Other deep items may very well be down deep due to construction operations (grading) during the building up of that area. My suggestion , is to just go out and enjoy the hobby and take the finds as you find them no matter the depth.

 

[Loco-Digger]

Here in Lorain county Ohio the older coins seem to be between 4-7 inches deep in undisturbed soil. When I dig LC's, IHPs, wheats, and clad deeper than that I know there has been fill brought in or maybe they dug out a basement under the house and layed 6 to 12 inches of soil over the surface. Or maybe it was in an old garden patch that has been tilled for many years. This area was swampy back in the day and throughout time many residents had fill dirt laid in their yards to keep them from being too marshy.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Couldn't tell you. Frost disturbs(expands and then collapses) the ground hereabouts to 18" deep or so every winter. That's deeper than I can detect. And the worms and gubs tunnel around in the topsoil.

I will say most silver coins I have found are 5" to 7" deep, though I have found Indian head cents on the surface and a 1996 Roosevelt dime at 10" deep.

I'm sure there are some deeper I would like to get to. Most parks, picnic areas and fairgrounds hereabouts are on river floodplains that silt up annually.

 

[xaos]

There are NRCS maps that provide detail of soil accumulation charts with rates by area over the years. This can give you an idea, given the age of a site, how deep the coins may be.

Plants, especially grasses, accumulate depth rapidly in their growth cycles over the years. I take a fiberglas prob with me, the type that geotechs use. this gives me a great idea of soil depth and density (disturbed-not disturbed) of a site. Also helps find utilities I dont want to dig up.

Aside from soil maps, looking at old sidewalks or other permanent construction on the site, it appears that the sidewalk has sunk, and there is a large vertical edge from the edgers and trimming...but actually the ground has risen from soil accumulation. You can get an idea from visual clues around the location on potential depths.

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/partnership/ncss/

 

[A2coins]

I've found many 1800s coins less than an inch in the ground would you want to dig 2or3 feet for a coin

 

[Tpmetal]

I've found many 1800s coins less than an inch in the ground would you want to dig 2or3 feet for a coin

i would dig twice that for a gold coin.... lol

 

[Ammoman]

I have found 95% of my coins no deeper than 8 inches. I have been working a site that dates back to the early 1900's and every coin has been no deeper than 4 inches. My deepest find last year was a small ring on the bank of a lake at what I estimate to be around 11 inches.

one advantage of having a detector that goes deep is, you don't always have to scrub the ground to get the signal.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Many variables (soil type, moister, type of vegetation...etc.), in my case 1" to 10+/- 2 is probably correct.

 

[Trezurehunter]

Like most of the rest, I find most of my old coins within 8 inches of the surface, and I'm quite happy with that.