The Geology of Placer Deposits

If you are interested in finding gold it is important to first learn about placer deposits. A good amount of the information that we know now has been given to us by the early miners and prospectors went through absolutely everything you can imagine digging through and searching every possible place they could to find gold. Geologists have said that they do not know which is the best method at finding everything there is to know about the gravel deposits that are still in the earth and pretty much all we can do is continue doing what the early miners did.

The history and structure of geological structures are very complex and even the best engineers are stunned by some of them. There are fragmentary benches and places with rich gravel deposits that are still totally hidden from the top and even from the passages underground that enter into the lower main channels that are very tempting for those interested in getting gold too. It has been said that there is still a great amount of gold to be found the thing is finding it.

Something important to keep in mind is that almost all the areas you go to have probably at some point or time been prospected on. Make sure to not waste time in areas that you know have not been productive before. Look through areas where you know there is gold and use the knowledge you have learned from those that were there before you.

There are different types of placer deposits that are classified as the most basic placers:

• There are beach placers

• There are Eolian placers or local concentrations caused due the wind that has removed the lighter minerals.

• There are also glacier stream placers that in most cases do not have a lot of gold in them.

• There are Bajada placers and these are located in a peculiar type of desert or dry placers.

• Hillside placers or Elovial placers that represent transitional creep from residual deposits to stream gravel.

• There is also what is known as seam diggings or residual placers.

Out of all the different types of placers, the one to focus the most on is the stream placer. Stream placers have been the best source of almost all the placer gold mined in California. Stream placers have sand and gravel that occurs by the action of the water that is running. If there have been different times of wearing down and have then gone back to normal, there will be more of a heavier concentration of minerals there.

Stream deposits have been around for a long time and there still remain a good number of them. There are well defined channels while there are others that are simply benches. All the bench placers were originally stream placers similar to the present stream deposits you see now a days. If these were not worked on again by wearing down they remain as benches or terraces on the sides of the valley cut the by the present stream. These deposits are what are known as bench gravels. To be able to understand stream placers, it is important to study streams and learn about their history, character and habits.