Lunk

Thanks for your explanation MSC, that is very interesting. The highest priced Gold Basin stone currently advertised on the Aerolite site is $2.50 per gram, so just a guess, but I'm thinking that perhaps the specimen that you saw may have been one that was found during the filming of the Gold Basin episode of the Meteorite Men TV show, which would make it extremely collectible; I can't think of another reason why a Gold Basin stone would be so phenomenally high priced. 🤔

Bottom pic - his coil cover is so shiny, with no scratches to be seen; he must be a high-looper.

You must have an exceptional specimen to be priced that high. A quick internet search of reputable dealers reveals the going rate on high quality Gold Basin individuals is averaging $1.49 to $2.10 per gram, USD.

Gerry, I'm certain I was using that scoop when they were still with us.

When getting close to the target, I lay the pick aside and start digging with the scoop, to avoid any possibility of marking the prospective nugget with the pick. I think it's time to finally retire my scoop, though. 😞

If you think about it, the moon is actually less hospitable to the survival of impactors than the earth is. Since the moon has no atmosphere, there is no mechanism to slow or stop a meteoroid from slamming into the moon at cosmic velocity, which can be as high as 160,000 mph. At this velocity, a meteoroid with a mass of only 1 kilogram (2.2 lbs) would have the kinetic energy equivalent of over a half a ton of TNT; more than enough to pulverize, if not vaporize, the object on impact. Besides, even if it were to survive, it would be unrecognizable as a meteorite, since no atmosphere means no ablation and therefore no fusion crust, regmaglypts or flow features of any kind. But I would still like to metal detect on the moon, because you know there has to be gold and other metals up there!😁 Here's a cool little article on meteorite formation, from the American Meteor Society website: Meteoroids enter the earth’s atmosphere at very high speeds, ranging from 11 km/sec to 72 km/sec (25,000 mph to 160,000 mph). However, similar to firing a bullet into water, the meteoroid will rapidly decelerate as it penetrates into increasingly denser portions of the atmosphere. This is especially true in the lower layers, since 90 % of the earth’s atmospheric mass lies below 12 km (7 miles / 39,000 ft) of height. At the same time, the meteoroid will also rapidly lose mass due to ablation. In this process, the outer layer of the meteoroid is continuously vaporized and stripped away due to high speed collision with air molecules. Particles from dust size to a few kilograms mass are usually completely consumed in the atmosphere. Due to atmospheric drag, most meteorites, ranging from a few kilograms up to about 8 tons (7,000 kg), will lose all of their cosmic velocity while still several miles up. At that point, called the retardation point, the meteorite begins to accelerate again, under the influence of the Earth’s gravity, at the familiar 9.8 meters per second squared. The meteorite then quickly reaches its terminal velocity of 200 to 400 miles per hour (90 to 180 meters per second). The terminal velocity occurs at the point where the acceleration due to gravity is exactly offset by the deceleration due to atmospheric drag. Meteoroids of more than about 10 tons (9,000 kg) will retain a portion of their original speed, or cosmic velocity, all the way to the surface. A 10-ton meteroid entering the Earth’s atmosphere perpendicular to the surface will retain about 6% of its cosmic velocity on arrival at the surface. For example, if the meteoroid started at 25 miles per second (40 km/s) it would (if it survived its atmospheric passage intact) arrive at the surface still moving at 1.5 miles per second (2.4 km/s), packing (after considerable mass loss due to ablation) some 13 gigajoules of kinetic energy. On the very large end of the scale, a meteoroid of 1000 tons (9 x 10^5 kg) would retain about 70% of its cosmic velocity, and bodies of over 100,000 tons or so will cut through the atmosphere as if it were not even there. Luckily, such events are extraordinarily rare. All this speed in atmospheric flight puts great pressure on the body of a meteoroid. Larger meteoroids, particularly the stone variety, tend to break up between 7 and 17 miles (11 to 27 km) above the surface due to the forces induced by atmospheric drag, and perhaps also due to thermal stress. A meteoroid which disintegrates tends to immediately lose the balance of its cosmic velocity because of the lessened momentum of the remaining fragments. The fragments then fall on ballistic paths, arcing steeply toward the earth. The fragments will strike the earth in a roughly elliptical pattern (called a distribution, or dispersion ellipse) a few miles long, with the major axis of the ellipse being oriented in the same direction as the original track of the meteoroid. The larger fragments, because of their greater momentum, tend to impact further down the ellipse than the smaller ones. These types of falls account for the “showers of stones” that have been occasionally recorded in history. Additionally, if one meteorite is found in a particular area, the chances are favorable for there being others as well.

Great post, Chris. I would like to add that different coil configurations can have their own unique method used to pinpoint a target with. There are three main coil configurations that we electronic prospectors are familiar with, the first and perhaps most widely used being the mono coil, with which Chris' pinpointing method works very well, especially on deeply buried targets. However, on shallow targets, the hot spot on mono coils moves towards the outer edge of the coil as the coil gets closer to the target, so that tipping the coil vertically and using just the edge can quickly pinpoint a shallow target with great accuracy. This method also applies with the DOD coil of the GPZ 7000; deep targets pinpoint in the center of the coil, while shallow targets can be easily pinpointed with the coils edge. The third coil configuration is the traditional double D, on which targets, both deep and shallow, hit on the center line from the front edge of the coil to the back edge. The pinpointing method here is called the “wiggle-back”...simply swing the coil repeatedly over the target using a very narrow swing of only a couple of inches, while slowly moving the coil towards your feet until the target response disappears; at this point, the target is located just off the front tip of the coil.

A truly unbelievable score!

Agreed, not a meteorite. Dolomite perhaps? Here are some simple home tests you can do if you suspect you may have found a meteorite: http://meteorite-identification.com/streak.html

You're right, Tom; and it sure sounds like the summary section of the patent is describing the 3 overlapping feedback systems employed in the GPX 6000 to eliminate signals produced by changing mineralization and EMI. And hopefully the new method of discrimination for a future PI/ZVT hybrid detector, since it's oblivious to soil mineralization, will be accurate to full depth. Wouldn’t that be something.🤔

OMG I can’t wait!!!

Nice going!

Since I won’t be needing a harness when swinging the GPX 6k, this wearable speaker is the perfect solution for me.

Bingo. Avantree Wearable Speaker

All you really need is a Bluetooth 5.0 aptX low latency speaker; plenty to choose from on Amazon. I already got one for the GPX 6000, and it also works great with the Equinox.

Nice haul, congrats to you both!

One more thing: Debbie said that Doc's Detecting is already busy designing the protective covers for the GPX 6000. TIA Doc, you rock!

Nice nugget, guys, congrats!

I think most use the wife.😀

That would be nice!

When I say big gold, I mean multi-ounce to multi pound nuggets. Guess you'll have to do some side by side comparisons when you get one. Looking forward to your report!

Get a second job, mortgage the house, get an auto title loan...whatever it takes, man!🤣

I don’t think that will happen, just by virtue of ZVT vs PI; ZVT simply has more grunt on the big stuff.

It’s my opinion that it will replace the Z only on small to medium sized gold at depth, but certainly not on large nuggets, as the Zed is raw power, while the 6000 seems to have the edge on sensitivity. And with the lighter weight, the 6000 will excell at patch hunting, especially with the 17” mono. It will be an excellent meteorite hunter as well.