DDancer

That would count as a once in a life time experience indeed 🙂 As to magnitude I'll just say that was pretty darn bright to pulse the sky blue like it did. Doubtful any of us will get to pick that strew field but at the end of the video it looked like a fair bit shot off. Wonder if we'll get any info on it. Maybe one day one will hit close enough to me to get in there quick like the one up in Michigan *I think thats were it was* not to long ago.

My daily wake up includes a trip to spaceweather.com as well as here and news sites. Today they had a rather cool article and video or a meteor explosion in China I thought to transcribe here and share 🙂 Article from Spaceweather.com and link to video from their gallery *they have a lot of cool stuff there* : AN EXPLOSION OVER CHINA: Every night, the Chinese Meteor Monitoring Organization (CMMO) runs an automated camera in Shandong Province, monitoring meteor activity above the coast of the Yellow Sea. On Aug. 16th, it caught the brightest fireball in years. The night sky turned blue when a space rock exploded hundreds of times brighter than a full Moon: "The meteor illuminated the whole earth and shook the landscape with a loud sound," reports CMMO staff member Zhou Kun. "The flash of light, which peaked at 22:59 pm local time, was widely observed across the Shandong and Jiangsu provinces of China." Kun estimates the astronomical magnitude of the flash to be -20, more than 900 times brighter than a full Moon (albeit not as bright as the sun). If so, that would make it a rare fireball indeed. According to a NASA computer model of Earth's meteoroid environment, a fireball of that magnitude could be a decade class event. More information about this event (including a possible meteorite debris zone) may become available as the CMMO team analyzes "a large number of eye-witness reports," says Kun. Stay tuned. https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=167571

The AC in AZ is due to be turned on in October, right now the states waiting for a new condenser to come in off of back order 😉

As 2Valen says the Turquoise appears to be of very good quality. Quality Turquoise has a high luster due to its hardness, deep coloration and is often enhanced by the inclusions in the material. Its difficult to tell if that's native or treated Turquoise, is suspect native given its potential age, but treated Turquoise can be differentiated by a jeweler. Nice piece hope you can narrow down the time frame and maker.

Most utilities are buried around 3 feet down in the public right of ways so I dont worry much about them unless I'm near a box or feed coming off a pole. Cable lines and electrical extensions to homes and their garages or sheds are the only lines I've ever inadvertently dug up in other peoples yards~ luckly I've never broke one. There are some parks that have I have found shallow buried lines for lighting as well but usually when I get those signals they are large and if I trace them more than a couple of feet I leave them alone, same goes for those lines I find on other peoples properties anymore. Active lines also have a lot of EMI associated with them and thats another clue not to dig.

Depending on where your going to prospect, here in the US or elsewhere, your results will vary as to supplementing income. Here in the US detecting for gold is more of a hobby when it comes to income, gold is not very abundant and can be difficult to locate in appreciable quantities. Where as in Australia it can supplement or even be a primary income if you can get into a good location. Consider that you will be putting down a fair amount of cash just getting the gear together to begin. Then there's the amount of time you'll have to put into research, travel and searching. That has a cost as well. Personally here in the US its strictly a hobby with a lot of bullets, in Australia it supplemented the trips to a degree but I never got into the black on it. Critter's and bugs are always going to be there. Just know your area and gear up as needed. Snake gator's are always a good idea, good boots and insect deterrents as well. The bigger hazards are in the environment your going to go into so do your research lots of information out there. I don't consider the critters to be the biggest ones because getting lost, injured or stranded can get you just as dead or uncomfortable. So either travel in a group or always let someone know where your going and when you'll be back to help mitigate the big threats. Typically Day gear for me is a camel pack, small first aid kit with a snake kit and antihistamine *for stings*, Lighter, GPS, Radio whether I'm with someone or not that has scan ability, flash light and extra batteries, socks and a shirt *useful for other things if you get injured*, map if possible of the area I'm in and a compass for back up on the GPS. Weights less than 10lbs. In the US I carry a revolver, not for people but critters and as a signal device. Depending on where I'm at and how far I plan to wander I vary these things Pack, water, First aid kit and GPS will always be on me. Public and pending land "Australia" are really the only places to go unless someone invites you on their claims. It can be kinda daunting getting out there.

Looks like a Speleothem, a cave formation that has been on the surface for a long time.

Tom, I'm unsure how to properly use the Quote function so I'll just try to address a few items out of the overall Quote. In the first paragraph. The link I provided is simply a tool and yes there is a lot of info to un-pack there however I simply leave that up to the user. Personally I looked over the info for my given area thru the link I provided, accessed the parks and city websites for current detecting rules and regs, and made up my mind as to what I can and cant get away with. As such the site is a composition of information, not the rule, but a good resource that allows me to refine my search's. So No I'm not really confused at all about the boundary's you pointed out. Now as to my comment on county's Yes there are county's, cities and what not here and there that prohibit detecting pretty much everywhere. One example is Forsythe County around Winston Salem. I've been shoo'd out of several public and city area's there by grounds keepers and one police officer so I read up on that county's rules it pretty much only on private property that one can detect. But I still find area's there to have a swing. 🙂 In your second paragraph. Unfortunately I have to disagree. Many of the rules, thru research and due diligence, are codified on websites for public lands one wants to detect. For area's with no such codes then its a matter of non-sequitur and I simply dont poke the hornets nest and ask around for the answer NO. No need to give someone the bright idea to make a new code. Yes the devils in the details but a lawful person will look for such so as not to be in the wrong. There's no Gotcha's if you know what your about and as I said the link is just a resource. As to the rest of what you have to say its a nice essay and points out the need of not poking the hornets nest. But again its up to the individual to be aware of rules and regs simply because ignorance of the law is no excuse to an official. If its codified then there is no "between the lines" or grains of salt if you get caught and someone wants to put a boot to you. Personally I've only been asked to move on. In one case the grounds keeper pointed out a very nice school ground just up the road 🙂 I don't argue and l move on. Plenty of places to swing even if I take a chance with the law from time to time.

What the others say I'm pretty much in agreement with 🙂 But legality is a fine line. For example here in NC there are a lot of restrictions and whole counties where detecting is illegal unless its private properties. Here's a link I found useful on legalities, this page is for NC but they have other states and localities. One thing of note is many restrictions rest on the Antiquities Act as the catch all for no detecting. Generally if I'm quite, clean and pick quite times of the day I can get a little detecting done. Big thing is if asked to leave, even if you are in the right, do so. Plenty of places to have a swing. http://www.mdhtalk.org/cf/city-regulation.cfm?st=NC

Based on the XRF result the black rind would be the oxidized lead and manganese then. Interesting that it overtook the copper in color~ I was thinking more silver would have been involved. Thanks for the results.

If you have not done so yet check out the sticky in this part of the forum on basics to identify rocks. What I'm seeing looks like a metamorphic rock, likely a granite or fine grained pegmatite. It looks like there's some feldspar in it. As to the color differences that is due to weathering, again the video's by Chris can provide some good explanation as to why this occurs. Pictures in natural light help as indoor lighting generally has a limited spectrum and true coloration are hard to get.

I dont hunt for them but this article came up today on Fox News. Lady found a whooper sitting on the surface : https://www.foxnews.com/science/ancient-shark-tooth-south-carolina

Yep there are some bad apples, shame there are more articles than not on them. Much more sensational than the good one's like these. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/metal-detectorists-treasure-anglo-saxon-herefordshire-black-market-a9144856.html https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/01/15/how-metal-detecting-is-helping-people-find-their-lost-valuables/ https://www.thekansan.com/news/20170908/buried-treasure

In a way its sad to see forums go. I frequented the Depot for a time but it was always so cluttered. Seen some of my favorite bulletin boards go over the years, some I even moderated on, and it gets me about how much knowledge and comrade-re is lost with them. RIP Treasure Depot may your members find new homes and adventures 🙂

I had read, when I was a kid, that octopi would collect coins and such around their dens but this is the first confirmation of it 🙂 And a touching one at that. Seems that maybe the divers understood this phenomena as well. Cool.

I speculate that the Russian control pods are actually LRL's hence you don't need the rest of the machine. Just hit the horse shoe button and your in Luck.🙂 From what I've seen running around the parks lots of people are quite happy with their Nox's, as am I.

There's also the Report Post in our messages so we can help you to Steve. I have seen very few of the posts that you mention but I know its you doing what you do best. My thanks.

Thats a very nice specimen of Colemanite. Did you find it? and yes I cheated 😉 https://www.minerals.net/mineral/colemanite.aspx?img=/Image/4/49/Colemanite.aspx It looked like a borate crystal to me initially. But didn't have the blue I associate with them and it was a bit thin.

I remember what Kevin Hiller said to me when he yarned us about finding the Hand of Faith years ago. He said when he first saw it and dug down on it he wondered when it would end. Seeing that 417lb bit I imagine if it were a detector hit at the top and what I'd be wondering if I had to dig it out. 🙂 I imagine the miners where having some rather peculiar thoughts.

Sad news indeed. We spoke many times via email about Oz and other things in the last couple of years. He'll be missed here and in my heart. Fair winds and Fallowing seas my friend. Pat

Thats one way to remove overburden, hot rocks and scare the heck out of the critters 🙂 I'd suggest and A-frame attachment with two wheels on a single axle just behind the power head for more control on depth and stability similar to what you said about a wheel. Does it kick a lot of rocks into your shins even though its throwing forward of ya?

Could be iron oxide. Looks like sandstone with chalcedony quartz ridges in the matrix. Iron oxides are very common in many types of minerals and usually are orange to red in color and can come from a variety of iron rich minerals.

To me it looks real. As to your link on pricing its pretty close to the mark depending on how its graded. I like the coloration however it's lighter blue than top grade turquoises, Bisbee Blue is one of them, but should it prove real it looks like very good quality.

Yep, any un glazed white piece of ceramic will work to get a color for the material. But your saying its quite hard, galena is not very hard but it has a bit of brittleness.... found it on a farm. Well it could be an odd bit of chromium steel as your thoughts suggest though I dont recall ever seeing that material deteriorate like that. Could be something from a burn pile long ago as well. Still be interested in the streak.

Try a steak test and see what color it is. Could be galena, thats what the rind suggests to me.