If you live on the North Eastern coast of the US in an area that does not have natural gold deposits, probably the best chance you have to pan gold is in areas where the glaciers dumped their trash. Well, back to some trash is other peoples treasure, and thats what we have with what the glaciers dumped on us. It can give you a chance to try out the gold prospecting hobby near your home before venturing off to a gold bearing region.
In southwestern PA and Eastern Ohio we have an opportunity to go looking for these glacial deposits that are known to contain Fine Gold, Raw Diamonds and small Platinum. All of these are very fun and profitable to find.
How did it get here? Well it really did not have a choice. It was pushed with an unimaginable force from Canada and then dumped in our backyard. In this area we were impacted by at least 3 main glacial periods. The Wisconsian, Illinoian and the Kansan periods came through and left us some fine gold to play with. Most of these 3 periods had numerous advances and retreats, so the maps will give a better idea of where to look.
The only difference in finding the gold compared to areas that have natural gold deposits...