Coins Sinking

[Mark kus]

Yeah worms leave casings on the surface all the time..
Mark

 

[professor-tones]

My own opinion is that coins can sink under certain conditions that I don't understand. I think 1 reason they "sink" is they can actually be pushed down by cattle on the wet sloppy ground.
Like many have said old coins can be found close to the surface so it's safe to say coins don't always sink. I find modern coins 8 inches down, so how the hell did they sink!

 

[MarkCZ]

My own opinion is that coins can sink under certain conditions that I don't understand. I think 1 reason they "sink" is they can actually be pushed down by cattle on the wet sloppy ground.
Like many have said old coins can be found close to the surface so it's safe to say coins don't always sink. I find modern coins 8 inches down, so how the hell did they sink!

Well, if a 800 pound cow steps on a coin and presses it into the mud 7" or 8" then we can't really say it sunk can we?

 

[Monte]

My own opinion is that coins can sink under certain conditions that I don't understand. I think 1 reason they "sink" is they can actually be pushed down by cattle on the wet sloppy ground.
Like many have said old coins can be found close to the surface so it's safe to say coins don't always sink. I find modern coins 8 inches down, so how the hell did they sink!

Take anything out of your pocket and go lay it on top of the ground. Grab several Iron Nails, a pocket knife, and axe head, a few pry-off Bottle Caps, Pull Tabs, a small glass jar, tobacco tin, a few lids off of some metal or glass containers, just whatever you might encounter out detecting. Then find some bare dirt, lay all of these items around in a scattered orientation with trash between the coins .... then walk away. Have a fence around the area to keep people out, animals out, and just walk away.

Go back and glance over the fence in the future ... the far away future, too ... and you'll find that everything is right where you set it. They do not sink! If it was bare dirt you could have seeds grow and block your view, or any decaying leaves and weeds could drop on top of the,. A nearby tree might shed leaves that fall on top of the items. The wind might blow and deposit leaves and whatever on top of them, but that's usually not much buildup just from wind-blown dust, sand or dirt.

Let the wind shift, or get stronger, any time of year and it can blow leaves, sand, dust, and dirt off of the targets you set around on the dirt, because those targets do not sink.

Now, let's introduce rain and snow. That can build up and cause a very small, negligible amount of weight over the entire area, but seldom enough to depress anything into the ground, but IF it did, it would be a marginal amount of change --- but that is not sinking ... that's called displacement. It could get a lot of snow to melt, or a light shower to a thunderstorm downpour and that might leave the dirt area wet, to possibly saturated. And I mean very saturated to the point of being waterlogged and/or muddy. As such, if very saturated to the depth of a coin or a bit below, and if the material was like sand or very fine dirt and very saturated, it could be similar to a fluid state like beach sand and have the possibility to experiences 'displacement' but not easily. A coastal beach or an active lake or river beach would have wave action and that can produce a fluid state AND stir things up and that action is not 'sinking' either. It's simply displacement based upon the different material/objects being in a fluid state which lets heavier to lighter weight objects stop or settle where there is a void created by lighter-weight material being moved out of the way due to action of a fluid-state medium. Not "sinking" but 'Displacement.'

But in an uncontrolled environment, where it is not fenced in and you have foot traffic from man or animal, vehicular traffic from wagons, trailers, vehicles, and especially if in a very wet/saturated condition ... objects are sure to be stepped-on, pushed around, moved-around and just be 'Displaced' and that can put them at a different depth/position. I have also experienced similar 'relocation' of modern coinage due to plowing or tilling as they work a field, or renovate urban locations to re-groom a grassy park, business lawn, home lawns, and othr public areas, like parks and schools.

Coins Don't Sink .. unless they are in a fluid state or dropped in the air. And in that case, it is still 'displacement.

Monte

 

[professor-tones]

Well, if a 800-pound cow steps on a coin and presses it into the mud 7" or 8" then we can't really say it sunk can we?

Maybe! It sank under the intense pressure of a cow!

 

[still looking 52]

What about freezing and thawing effect, I've noticed when the ground freezes especially when there's a lot of moisture in the ground the ground will actually form small spikes from the water pushing the dirt into the air. This action would be reversed when the ground thaws. Would this action cause a coin to sink?

 

[Desi Dunne]

...the theory I put forward is as plausible as anyone else's...

As to 'coins don't sink?'
Supposing I fell into a 6ft pool and drowned at the bottom!
Would the Coroner say,
"No, he didn't sink!"

 

[WV62]

The coroner would say you are dead and then they would sink you 6ft under the dirt.

 

[u2robert]

I do know this as a fact.
The coins, buttons & bullets are deeper in my test garden from when I planted them.
They have also shifted around they are not in the same place as I planted them.
The test garden is 6-7 years old.

 

[Johnnyanglo]

Coins sink .... plant debris adds layers above, both can be in operation. Coins can sink rapidly during the rainy season when the ground is more liquified. Worms do push soil to the surface and cause coins to drop into the cavities by overturning and pushing dirt above the coin. Subterranean water flows during Spring thaw, which liquefies the soil (depending on soil percolation ability), dropping coins lower. Winter heaves and frost expand/contract the earth, mixing coins down (or sometimes upward). Ground compaction can bring buried coins relatively closer to the surface as soil grains are compressed over time. Horizontally, the soil matrix can vary widely even over short distances, so sink rates can vary tremendously based on silica size and composition (rocks & roots).

 

[John in Nawth Carolina]

Years ago I put a penny on top of a small container of soil. I would water the soil almost every week

I did this for 10 years. The penny remained on the surface.

Coins can be pushed down by grass roots. Worms can undermine the soil under the coins. Grass clippings become soil and continue to cover the coin. Moles can push coins around. Finally, folks cover them with fill soil. All thos things contribute to coins 'sinking' .