Soil Type

c.d.

Jr. Member
Feb 2, 2015
41
47
WV
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Newbie here with a few questions.Are there certain type soils that allow coins to sink faster than others? I hit a late 1800's home that had clad coming from 8 to 10 inches and found very few early coins. The soil is very loamy and has not been tilled or filled. Yesterday i went to a 1940's home and was finding wheat cents at 2 to 3 inches. Totally different type of soil.
 

Charles Darwin did a test, the more worms the deeper they go.
 

Charles Darwin did a test, the more worms the deeper they go.

That makes so much sense I almost don't want to believe it. :occasion14:

We must have a crap load of worms in Colorado. Every damn 2000 series coin I dig is 6-7 inches. I will need a earth drill for anything older.....
 

coins don't sink, unless they are in a liquid environment. Coins can very rapidly move down below ground because they get covered by grass, and then roots seem to help them get lower. If you pay attention to the places you hunt, the better fertilized and watered a lawn is, the deeper the coins will be. Crap ground that is weeds and bare dirt can have 100+ year old coins with just a covering of dust. Freeze and thaw cycles seem to play with coins and move them around too.

I used to believe that almost everything was in the top 6 or so inches of soil until I followed a scraper in a local park. After removing a foot of soil I was still digging down another 6 inches to retrieve targets.
 

Last edited:
That makes sense, the dirt at the first place I mentioned is as fertile as I have ever seen. It is sown in Bermuda grass and looks like carpet.Thanks for the explanation.
 

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