Geophysics vs treasure hunting

[99thpercentile]

On this forum, and many other similar ones, I see a lot of questions about sensors, targets, and methods. Most of these questions could be answered quite easily with a very basic understanding of geophysics. I have no expectation that the average person on this or other similar treasure hunting forums has any background in geophysics, not have they probably ever heard of it as a discipline. This doesn’t surprise me in the least as I hadn’t heard of geophysics as a discipline until my junior year of my undergraduate degree in engineering physics at a small liberal arts college. After that I went on to get a masters degree in geophysical engineering and a PhD in geophysics from the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) which has the oldest geophysics department in the world.

My thesis statement after 25 years of near surface geophysics experience and lots of time both doing and reading about treasure hunting is the:

”All treasure hunting is an application of near surface geophysics. Any type of target that you are looking for is probably similar to targets that geophysicists look for every single day using instruments designed to take advantage of everything that we know about the physics of the shallow subsurface. The data is interpreted with software used to extract as much information as possible from the data that we have collected.”

What is the best way to share the knowledge that exists in my discipline with the average treasure hunter without any expectation that they are going to read the bookshelves full of math, physics, geophysics, electrical engineering, and other related topics?

I have offered to give presentations on many of these topics to local treasure hunting clubs in the Denver metro area in the past with essentially no interest from the clubs members.

I could do presentations that I put on YouTube if that is the best way.



Ryan E. North, PhD, PgP, RPG, GISP
Principal Geophysicist
ISC Geoscience
2420 Colorado Blvd #597
Idaho Springs, CO 80452
601-831-5832
[email protected]

[Altra]

I would be very interested in your insight. I'm sure others here would also. YouTube seems like a good way to present your knowledge. There is a section on the forum where you can post articles also.

An overview of the technologies used and specific applications. Software used for data analysis. Geology etc

One problem, most of the equipment and software you use in your profession is out of reach, economically for many here. This forum is about building your own equipment or inventing new circuits. Maybe your information could lead to hobby versions of the expensive commercial instruments?

Thanks

[Carl-NC]

Hi Ryan,

Most detecting clubs are full of people who just coin hunt or prospect. The "big time treasure hunters" who are looking for big scores aren't usually there, and they are your audience. And a lot of them are lazy. They either want a metal detector that will beep only on gold up to 5m deep, or they want an LRL than can scan 10 acres in 10 minutes. I think the idea of some videos on treasure hunting reality is a good idea but I also suspect that the lazy treasure hunters will mostly ignore it. Certainly true for the LRL crowd, who are just plain delusional. But other people who are either serious, or who are at least realistic, would benefit and appreciate some solid information.

Regards,
Carl

[ivconic]

It's not spam, it's not an "attack" on the forum.
No big deal. It's a "signature" that I added to my profile many years ago, and now I no longer have that option in my profile to see the signature field.
That's why I can't even see it when I check my profile.
This is because Carl was making changes to the forum.
And I quite accidentally, unaware of the consequences, turned on the option to display the signature.
And suddenly the old forgotten signature appeared in every edit???
Technically this is my fault and I unknowingly caused this.
Guys, I apologize for the terribly irritating situation I've caused here.
Carl if you could also restore the "signature" option in the user settings, so that I could clear that field completely, so that this would not happen again?
Only one ambiguity remains.
Why does the signature not appear immediately with the first post that is published, but instead appears after the edit of that post?
But that's already a matter of scripts and forum engine.
The only thing I can do on this side is to turn off signatures in the options. And that's what I did.
...
99thpercentile WELCOME!
You are wrong if you think that nobody here has taken a deeper interest in Geophysics.
Carl gave part of the explanation but I don't fully agree with him either.
Geophysics is an integral part of the "equation" that we constantly encounter here.
I personally wrote dozens of texts in which I tried to connect and clarify the connections of Geophysics with the "phenomena" that appear in the search with detectors.
And you know what? That's where Carl hits the mark when he says that people are either disinterested and lazy or don't understand at all what, in my case; I wanted to explain in those texts.
And in the end, the truth remains that out of the total number of participants at the forum; there remain a very small number who would engage in some more detailed stories and have the desire to learn something about it or as much as they can.
But it is also a fact that there are still a few of us and we want to hear your opinion.
I think I am the first one who is most interested in your knowledge. Because I am the last person left on this forum who is still interested in all other research methods than just waving a detector above the soil surface.
Proof of this is my constant return to the topics of the influence of the sun on the geomagnetism of the planet Earth and radical changes in the soil due to changing solar activities.
Dozens of such reviews of mine; I got 0.0% response from others on the forum! Which says Carl is right.
The vast majority do not understand at all what I am writing about and what I want to emphasize.
And a very small minority who might have a chance to understand some of it; are very lazy and self-centered "experts" who have sucked up all the knowledge in the world and do not want some "Balkanian" to lecture them there.
So you are also right in your assessment of the situation on such forums, but Carl is also right when he added that you can no longer easily find people who would be interested in it on the forums.
If it means something to you and if it is enough for your motivation; there are still a few of us here who are eager to hear your observations about the connection between Geophysics and metal detecting.
Welcome and start writing. You will have my full attention.

Carl please delete all posts from #4 to #13 because they simply spoils the topic.

[99thpercentile]

Thank you for the feedback.

I will continue putting together presentations that compare near surface geophysical methods to the applications of treasure hunters. The standard approach of digital geophysical mapping (DGM) needs to branch out to the treasure hunting application.

I do realize that the high end treasure hunters with large budgets are probably not on these forums. I will work on some marketing materials targeted at that demographic as well.

[ivconic]

Thank you for the feedback.

I will continue putting together presentations that compare near surface geophysical methods to the applications of treasure hunters. The standard approach of digital geophysical mapping (DGM) needs to branch out to the treasure hunting application.

I do realize that the high end treasure hunters with large budgets are probably not on these forums. I will work on some marketing materials targeted at that demographic as well.

Welcome to do that, of course!
Looking forward.
More the insights we as hobbyists have; the better.
Thanks for the open mind towards "semi criminal activity" as our hobby here is frequently categorized, especially by most of the high educated professionals.
I do know personally few geophysist in the country, with the attitude like that, ... go figure!

[Mark-VA]

Always enjoy post of people thinking outside the box.