Geological Descriptions and Conditions
ANCIENT STREAMBEDS (TERTIARY CHANNELS): Old rivers usually dried that generally ran in a southerly direction during the Tertiary time period. it was during this time that most of the rich surface lodes were eroded and the gold was washed down to these ancient rivers.
BASADA: An alluvial deposit in the desert
BAR: Deposits of sand and rocks located in the streambed where the force of the water goes, an example is at the inside bends where rivers or streams change direction.
BEDROCK: Is the solid rock surface which underlies the loose sediments in a river or streambed
BENCHES: Parts of the old natural streambed that has been left dry by the active waterway
BLEEDING OFF: The natural erosion of the bench gravels in a present stream or river.
BLUE LEAD: Is the bottom of a ancient riverbed gravel, these gravels we known to be sometime very rich.
CALICHE: A layer of gravels and clay that have compacted, and is often found int he desert areas. They also create a false bedrock. Gold deposits can be found in the surface of the caliche layers.
CEMENTED GRAVEL: is hard-packed streambed material found ontop of bedrock or in the layers above.
CLAY: found sometimes in the streambed and must be broken up before running into a sluice box.
COUNTRY ROCK: Earths crust the most common rock.
DIKE: Are a narrow section of igneous rock which extends up out of the Country rock, Dikes make excellent gold traps.
ELUVIAL DEPOSIT: is a gold or other lode deposit that has been carried away from the original lode, but has not made its way to a active waterway.
FALSE BEDROCK: A hard pack of material (sediment) in a streambed that will give the impression of being the bedrock itself.
FANNING: its the sweepeing of light gravels and sand off the bedrock while looking for gold.
FLOAT: Are loose pieces of quartz rock or other type of gold bearing rock that has traveled down from its original source. This is generally what the prospector will follow in search of the lode deposit.
FLOOD LAYERS: some streams or riverbeds will have different layers of materials that were layed there during storms from different periods of time, Each layer may contain its own gold.
FLUME: Is a man made water ditch, it was is used for transporting water to mining sites in the earlier days of mining.
GANGUE: The waste materials and rocks of no value that are associated with the material that is valuable in a lode deposit.
GLORY HOLE: A term meaning very rich gold deposit
GRADIENT: Is the downward slope in a cluice box or active waterway.
HAIRLINE CRACKS: Is the small minute sized cracks which are found along the bedrocls surface at teh bottoms of a waterway sometimes containing a large amounts of gold.
HARDROCK MINING: The process of mining mineral veins.
HIGH GRADE: The rich ore samples from a lode mine.
LOAMING: Is the process of digging for mineral float or indiciations of a residual eluvial deposit.
LODE: Veins of valuable minerals.
Material: term used often in mining indicating rocks, gravels, clay etc. which make up a streambed
MINERALIZATION: Is the conditionof an ore or streambed/river material having minerals present in the rock or material.
MINING CLAIM: Land which the mining rights have been legally claimed for a period of time and can be mined without anyone interfering .
MOSS: small green or brown plants growing close to one another, and has a tendenccy to trap gold.
MOSSING: A mining activity in which moss is collected and broken up in a container to collect gold.
ORE: Any rock deposit which a valuable material can be extracted.
OUTCROPPING: is the end of a lode that extends outward from with in the earth.
OVERBURDEN: This is the lower grade streambed material which lies on top of a placer paylaer or lode deposit. it needs usually to be removed first before processign the gold deposit.
PAY-DIRT: the material in a streambed which contains paying quantities of gold.
PAY-STREAK: large placer gold traps
PLACER DEPOSIT: Gold that has eroded away from it original lode.
PLAYED OUT: Gold deposit that runs out.
PLEISTOCENE CHANNELS: Is the remnants of the earliest rivers or stream channels. Many of these channels remain untouched by early mining and still contain large amounts of gold.
POTHOLE: Holes along the bedrock that trap gold.
QUARTZ: Consists mainly of silica and it as a tendency to trap gold,
RAW ORE: is the ore that comes straight out of the lode.
RESIDUAL DEPOSIT: gold deposit and float that has left its original lode but has not been swept away by forces of nature.
SEDIMENTS: The Earthm sand rocks etc.. that have broken free from the bedrock and has been deposited by forces of nature.
TAILINGS: processed materials from the stream/river/hardrock and discarded
TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP: A specialized map showing positions of rivers mountains, streams, lay of the land , elevations etc…
VEIN: is a hardrock deposit of ore /rock that is dissimilar to surrounding country rock. it has pretty much a uniform development as to its size.
