New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

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kiwijw		Posted : Tuesday, 6 September 2011 12:30:31 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 28/03/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,152 Thanks: 92 times Was thanked: 658 time(s) in 324 post(s)		Originally Posted by: madsonicboating Awesome and interesting reading guys!! Did I read somewhere once that the alps had risen something 20km's in the last so many thousand years but it's rain, wind and earthquakes and general errosian that keeps em looking like they are? The 2 plates are constantly moving...especcially of late!! G'day MSB, Yes as the mountains grow they are also being eroded. At present they are growing something like 12mm a year, I think, quicker than the erosive forces of rain, wind, snow & ice & in mount cooks case those few years back, land slide. That landslide would have taken off many thousands of years of uplift in the blink of an eye. That landslide would have originated from the process of freeze & thaw over the years & probably a slight tremor of an eathquake to trigger it off. So if it wasnt for erosion they would be many more times there hight today. From that you can see how much erosion has taken place & how much gold has been smashed out of the mountains in the process & concentrated into the rich leads & deposits by those same erosive forces. Mainly running water from rain & melted snow & ice in the case of alluvial gold deposits. Some of them caught up in the cracks & crevices still high up in the mountains. JW :)

chrischch		Posted : Tuesday, 6 September 2011 1:11:53 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 28/08/2011(UTC) Posts: 811 Location: Christchurch Thanks: 192 times Was thanked: 105 time(s) in 104 post(s)		Oh okay, that makes sense. I had read that if you find glacial morraine that it may be good gold country is why I asked and the fact that it would be virgin material but if theres no gold seam to start with then obviously its not going to produce. Great pics of the glacier though, it was far too rainy to see when I went over there last. The Waiho public fossicking area is definately on my to do list.
		Fisher Goldbug Pro, Fisher F2, Garrett Propointer.

Lammerlaw		Posted : Tuesday, 6 September 2011 2:44:48 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 24/05/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,721 Thanks: 72 times Was thanked: 579 time(s) in 396 post(s)		Originally Posted by: chrischch Oh okay, that makes sense. I had read that if you find glacial morraine that it may be good gold country is why I asked and the fact that it would be virgin material but if theres no gold seam to start with then obviously its not going to produce. Great pics of the glacier though, it was far too rainy to see when I went over there last. The Waiho public fossicking area is definately on my to do list. Before a glacier will carry gold it must pass through gold bearing country so this in effect does not mean that all glaciers carry gold. Also it must be remembered that if you do find gold in a stream or river then the source of that gold may have long since eroded away. The entire process is dependent on the geology of the country. Many many years ago friends of mine worked in the Callery - one of my friends was a School teacher nearby and although I am not certain they may have accessed up through that country via a gyrocopter which they had made. In any case I do recall one of them stating that it was nothing to find an 'ounce or two' and to make things easier for them both were mountaineers with a great deal of experience. Somehow I do not think I would give glacial moraine the time of day if I was serious about finding gold but then again I have always concentrated on rivers and crevicing.

starflash		Posted : Monday, 12 September 2011 7:12:05 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 16/08/2010(UTC) Posts: 192 Location: auckland, tairua Thanks: 18 times Was thanked: 38 time(s) in 30 post(s)		i agree with you all, but my understanding of glacier carried gold is that it gets burried in the glacier and gets squashed by the weight of the ice. hence glacial gold = disc shaped flat gold whereas rounded gold is just reef shed gold rounded in a river. there are marked differences in the shape of river gold between rivers, one i know of has only flat gold in the shape of discs and it is fed from the end of an ancient glacier. cheers starflash

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