Stream Load

The material that is carried by the stream in the water is called the stream load or more informally known as debris. Sand, gravel and little boulders that seem to float in between the bed and surface are referred to as suspended, debris that has dissolved is in solution, and boulders that bounce along the floor of the stream move due to saltation.

After the speed of the stream slows down to where it does not support its stream load anymore, the material in it is then deposited.

Debris that travels to the bed from being suspended is said to be deposited by sedimentation, and by precipitation from solution and when a stone that has been bouncing at the bottom of the stream stops, is known as grounding.

It is sufficient for a prospector to have an idea of the dimension of material that can be moved in a stream. The larger stones that are bounced along with the bed load do the work of grinding with other rocks in order to bring them down in size and this also sets ore free. After the gold has been released from material that was cemented in this way, it has a tendency of staying where it is and it is not usual for it to transport itself more.

Once the stream has reduced its speed so that the material that is deposited at several levels down the bed load of the stream it is then retained. All this means is that the gold is then covered with sand and gravel that is useful as a valuable cover that protects it from being transported further down by the water of the stream.

After the natural process of why gold stays put is understood it is quite easy to see why this occurs. In general there are two big reasons for this.

Firstly the sand and gravel that covers and protects the material needs to be eroded by the stream before the gold is able to moved. In other words, the stream needs to reach the same flood stage it was at when the gold was deposited first. Due to the fact that streams get to flood stage at habitual periods within the cycle of a year, it is not likely the gold that has been deposited will erode before a year goes by.

If the gold remained at the profundity it was deposited in, a good amount of it would be carried up and moved each year as the stream got to its level of deposition in the process of flood stage. Nonetheless there is one thing that takes place right after the gold has been deposited and it almost assures that it is not probable the gold that was deposited during the flood stage will ever be eroded again that is unless there is a bigger flood that takes place.

Some material that is in the bed load of a stream for the most part looks like that of a bank. However there are some major differences. First of all due to the fact that it has gotten ground and ground again until the consistency is a lot finer than that of a shore. In second place, this is always permeated by water and has a much higher viscosity. The content of moisture lubricates the gravel and lets heavier material to go down to the bottom.