You like red ground, how about some black and white ground...

[Guest goldstudmuffin]

Hi Bill and All,

Here's is some interesting ground I found a couple of years ago. I found a 8 dwt'er in this little side tributary, but I spend most of my time in the main wash below because I found several nuggets in it. The 8 dwt'er was found in the middle of the tributary about 3/4 of the way down right between the black soil and the white soil. Now I'm ready to go back and hit the sides of this tributary.

Any guesses as to which color of soil the nugget came out of, the black or the white soil?

I'll eventually hit both side but which side would you start on?

Edited December 12, 2012 by goldstudmuffin

[boulder dash]

Black is my guess.

[Dick]

Hi Studmuffin -

I've seen dirt like that before, and hunted it some. I say the white stuff..........

Dick

[Mike Furness]

I was going to say white as well ...

[Terry Soloman]

I'll go with white as well.. Nice Nugget!

[Nugget Shooter]

Yup.... Nice nugget Russ.

[adam]

Nice contact zone. I would be drooling to detect that.... I would guess the nug came from the dark... but I have found a nice nug or two in decomposed granite as well....

[jim mcculloch]

Russ, white decomposed granite as well as caliche holds a better chance of being auriferous than black basaltic soil. HH Jim

[grubstake]

White! White! Grubstake

[FlakMagnet]

white

[Uncle Ron]

Russ, I've found some awesome, heavy nuggets in the dark basalt out in the Vultures, as well as in the contact between the two ... I'd go for the basalt side hill ... Cheers, Unc

[TomH]

It came out of the middle :P

Tom H.

[Billygoat]

I'm with TomH. In the middle. The middle picture posted above shows some disturbed dirt on the border line of the 2 colored dirts.

[Patrick in Havasu]

WOW..... I know where there is some black and white dirt just like that here in the hills behind Havasu.

Guess I need to check it out ?

Patrick.....

[Rimshot]

He found it next to that tall thorny whatever...could this be another cacti to look for when hunting for gold???

[TomH]

Tall thorny thing = ocotillo

Tom

[Micro Nugget]

Yup, the white stuff'd be my thought.

[homefire]

I like the Contact Zone between the Black and White.

Gold Forms in the Faults and Cracks.

Yep, that there is where you would find it.

[Bedrock Bob]

Ditto. The contact zone. Whether it is black or white the juncture is the rich spot. It may tend a little to one side or the other but where that contact zone broke up is where the gold will be found.

So many times what we are looking at today are just the barren remnants of mountains that were there years ago. For instance the gold may be coming from the dark rock yet spread out over the white side of the contact. Even if one rock or the other holds the gold the actual nuggets could be found in a different place. Which rock the gold came out of makes a lot less difference than the forces that broke it out over time. The dip and strike of the geological formation that constitutes the contact zone makes a lot of difference in where the gold wound up too.

I guess I am saying that it is probably not one side or the other of the contact that makes a difference but where the broken material from that contact wound up after a couple million years of weathering.

It is also my experience that where one side of the contact is highly altered is the spot along the contact that is rich. Where the basalt gets different along a contact zone is of special interest. If the average rock gets darker or redder against a high silica dyke or fault zone is where the biggest values generally lie.

That looks like the classic gold vein that I am familiar with. A contact between a metamorphic and volcanic rock with alteration and silicas concentrating in the metamorphic. Where this condition exists and oxidized zones of the contact have not been completely weathered away is a great place to find placer gold nuggets. And if you can identify oxidation in an altered zone of the contact you might even be able to find a pocket in the hard rock.

That is exactly how it is found in the area that I hunt, if that makes any difference at all in the grand scheme of things.

Edited December 12, 2012 by Bedrock Bob

[Rimshot]

Tall thorny thing = ocotillo

Tom

Thank's Tom.

[Bedrock Bob]

Rimshot, you might be on to something there!

I think every nugget I have ever found was in ocotillos. I dont know how many hills I have gridded using ocotillos as reference points. Several square miles worth I am sure.

Areas with ocotillos are good spots to look for gold! Especially in combination with contact zones showing alteration and oxidation.

Just with that much info and a good detector a guy could find a fortune!

[Rimshot]

Well muffin has been known to strike it rich on several hunts....lol! And i'll put that plant on my list. TY Bob!

[Guest goldstudmuffin]

Some interesting thoughts...Uncle Ron I've found nuggets in basalts also but only ounce.

If you look at the last picture the nugget has some white caliche on it so I'm guessing it came from the side with the light colored soil.

I hope to get back over there this winter and grid it off... octillo to octillo. I'll start on the side with the white ground.

Edited December 13, 2012 by goldstudmuffin

[Rimshot]

Interesting the octillo goes by so many different names.

ocotillo, desert coral, coachwhip, Jacob's staff, and vine cactus.

But it's not a true cactus.

[MT-AZ-HP]

octillo is pretty when it blooms in nugget country.

Harry