10/31/23 Report - Swash Zone Metal Detecting and Why It Sometimes Is a Good Idea.. Reader Emails and Observations.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report. 

Halloween 1955.

I received the following email not long ago.

First of all I love reading your beach reports.

 

I was trying to get out earlier this week to hunt the cuts but I still work so I have been taking Fridays off to hunt.

 

I was at Treasure Shores Beach park last Friday when you were at Wabasso beach a little South and what a difference a day makes.

 

The cuts were filled in so I hunted the low tide and your Saturday report is right on, the low tide shell lines was where I was finding stuff but it was everything from old corroded tent stakes to new pennies.

 

I did find a 2000 dated dime which had been there awhile and a 925 Sterling Silver ring that was very badly corroded so it had been there awhile in the same line that I found 3 new design shiny pennies?

 

Thank You

Mark G.

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Following up on that, here is an illustration of a fairly typical beach. It isn't exactly what I was dealing with when I was finding coins in the swash area, but it will help.

Swash or forewash in geography is a turbulent layer of water that washes up on the beach after an incoming wave has broken. The swash action can move beach materials up and down the beach, which results in the cross-shore sediment exchange. The time-scale of swash motion varies from seconds to minutes depending on the type of beach (see Figure 1 for beach types). Greater swash generally occurs on flatter beaches. The swash motion plays the primary role in the formation of morphological features and their changes in the swash zone. The swash action also plays an important role as one of the instantaneous processes in wider coastal morphodynamics.  (Source: Wikipedia.)

As I've described numerous times in the past, the changing water force will determine where items are deposited. Some items are moved more easily. When the force drops to a certain level, items will be deposited. When the water force is sufficient the items will be moved. How much force is required to move an item depends upon various charact3eriestcs of the items, including things like density, and shape.

In the illustration above, you see a step in the shallow water just in front of the beach.  The step is created where certain items will settle between being pushed up onto the beach and then back down.  If you watch a gentle swash on a very calm day, you'll notice items kind of wabbling back and forth a small amount in the swash near the water line as the water comes and goes.

The beach I was metal detecting the other day was flatter than the one shown in the illustration, but there was still that area near the base of the beach where shells and other things such as coins were settling.  It was clearly visible because the sand, taking less to move, was washed off of it the area where the more difficult to move items remained.

At high tide and when the surf is rough, the area where these objects are accumulated might be too difficult to work.  At other times the area might be covered with sand.  It is a very dynamic area.  Waves can be crashing right on it, or material can cover it up.  It can also get moved or scattered.  But there ar time when it is accessible and productive.

Many of those items were dragged down to the bottom of the beach when the cut above was created.

For more about how items move and areas like this get created, you might want to check out this post.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 6/28/16 Report - How Water Sorts Things On The Beach. Gold and Emerald Finds.

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Here is another email I recently received.

I recently discovered your blog, and it has been a welcome discovery. I am fairly new to detecting (I have been doing it a few times a year for the past few years), but I am hoping to dedicate more time to it in the future. When the seas are calm I am usually out fishing, but when they are not, detecting is a nice Yin to fishings Yang.

I am a Fort Pierce resident and it is nice to see reports from our beaches. One of the most helpful things I learned from your blog is the importance of wave direction. I have hunted this week for the last 3 days with discouraging results. I became excited when I saw this weeks wind/wave event. Unbeknownst to me, the strong east wind/wave direction really did nothing but "sand in" everything.

Yesterday I hunted Blind Creek at low tide. I have always assumed that this beach does not get much competition from other detectorists because of the nude aspect to the beach. I think I may be wrong. I hunted the wet sand first and only came up with 2 targets, both pennies. Discouraged, I moved up to the dry sand, where I have had many targets before. I was a bit stunned to only dig a handful of targets in the main areas where people congregate. I had the same results at Pepper Park on Tuesday.

How many other detectorists are hitting our local beaches? I usually run into a handful of them whenever I am out, but in my experience, they really don't know what they are doing. Most are swinging their coils 6 inches off the ground, or only swinging 20-30 degrees, I have even seen some who don't have anything to dig up their targets with. I wouldn't mind picking your brain on a number of topics sometime.

Lastly, I wanted to say that I was sorry to read about the passing of your mother. From what you wrote she lived a long and impressive life.

Thanks again for your blog.
Mark

Thanks Mark.  There is at least one fellow at Blind Creek that metal detects completely nude. 

You can be sure it is not me. 

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About Disney...

After suffering one box office bomb after another over the last two years, Disney is now being hit with massive delays thanks to the writers and actors strikes that have brought the film and TV industry grinding to a halt.

Last week, Disney, which is losing billions of dollars, announced that "Disney's Snow White," its big flick for March of 2024, is being delayed until March of 2025. One reason is the actors strike, which still hasn't been settled, according to The Hollywood Reporter....

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Still Some Action on the Map.
Source; nhc.noaa.gov.

Surf Chart From SurfGuru.com.

We are still having some big tides.  

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net