Mineral Deposits Are Mother Nature at Work

Throughout the years the draw for mineral seekers coming to the southern Oregon coast has been the streaks of black sand, what old timers used to call “pay streaks,” that can be found lining the Oregon beaches. In geological terms they are called “placer deposits,” and geologists say they are actually the work of Mother Nature.

(Photos taken April 11, 2011)

The Beach at Seven Devils

"Placer Deposits" at Seven Devils Shore



Thanks to Mother Nature’s confluence of four important geologic events, the southern Oregon coast is rich with these black sands that contain the chromite, garnet and zircon that we are looking for.

The first event—the source—is the bedrock of the coastal range of the Klamath Mountains that runs through southern Oregon and northern California. As the mountain materials erode and break away from the source there has to be a form of transportation—the second geologic event. This includes the rivers, streams and ocean currents that carry the sand, sediment and minerals out of the mountains and dump them into the ocean.

Next you need a depositional mechanism—the third event in our geologic confluence—that manages to gather the minerals in one place. The mechanism here is the extremely high energy of the Pacific Ocean along the Oregon coast that pounds the beaches with enough power to segregate, separate and concentrate the valuable minerals in collective deposits.

Finally, you have to preserve these mineral deposits so they don’t get washed away—the fourth confluent event. Once you have a concentrated collection of minerals, something needs to happen to preserve that deposit. Here on the Oregon coast the surface of the earth—its tectonic plates—are being pushed upward, settling at about 200-400 feet above sea level. That’s where we find the main concentrations of black sands today.

Mother Nature has taken a whole region, eroded it, kept the best minerals and deposited them on the beaches, and then pushed them up away from the ocean. That’s where our work begins.