Question....where is the extra dirt coming from?
 

Lets say you are hunting for dinosaur fossils or on some archaeological dig.

In canada you dig down.

In Africa you dig down.

In Asia you dig down.

Where the hell is all this extra dirt coming from. There must be a lot more dirt on earth that there was 1000's of years ago fi you always have to dig to find anything. It cant all be from meteorites?.

Are the oceans getting deeper and its coming from down there?

Seriously i cant figure it out.

rJ

Re: Question....where is the extra dirt coming from?
 

Decaying plant matter accounts for some of it. Minerals being washed down from the mountains through rivers probably has something to do with it. Sometimes oceans rise over stuff and deposit a bunch of silt, and then later receed. Remember, dinasaurs were around a long time ago, so the amound of dirt and stuff that's settled over them isn't really that much when you conisder how much time has passed.
This is a very amateur analysis based on intuition. I'm sure a geologist could help you out.

ps. oh yeah, Volcanoes.

Re: Question....where is the extra dirt coming from?
 

Volcanoes?

Re: Question....where is the extra dirt coming from?
 

yeah, volcanoes make dirt and stuff. Ever been to hawaii?

Re: Question....where is the extra dirt coming from?
 

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yeah, volcanoes make dirt and stuff. Ever been to hawaii?

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No, I just know they bring up a lot of stuff from below the fossils. A lot of the stuff pretty much stays put. But some gets blown up into the air really, really high up and spread all over the place.

Guano
 

It's cumulative crap, donated from all the fauna, humans more prominently. After a certain level of mass, the stuff does not break down any more but solidifies. So you gotta dig through it.

And while you are at it, you are breathing fart blast from the past.

Re: Guano
 

I get whats covering it, but where does the extra mass come from. To put mass there you have to be taking mass from something else.

rJ

Re: Guano
 

Fossils sink into the earth due to actions of plate tectonics. Remember, those things are floating. It has little to nothing to do with the earth gaining mass.

The earth does can mass though. About 78,000 tons each year.

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/que...php?number=470

Re: Question....where is the extra dirt coming from?
 

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Where the hell is all this extra dirt coming from.

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Andy Dufresne's pants.

Re: Question....where is the extra dirt coming from?
 

Weathering and erosion of mountains creates "dirt" which is washed by rain/rivers to the lower areas and it collects and compacts into soil and then compacts more (over time) into rock, i.e. sandstone = compacted sand, limestone = (mostly) compacted calcium carbonate/shells.

Also decaying vegetation becomes "dirt" and soil eventually.

Plate tectonics pushes continental plates together and they create new mountains so its all a big circle.