Where does all the soil come from that buries ancient cities?

Question

I guess I'm really asking why, other than a natural disaster, does a city become buried? Wouldn't there be somebody to come along and find it, and decide to live there?

Answer 1

Well the tectonic upheaval leading to tsunamis, earthquakes, floods,and slides lead to all of this and if these are not present then it comes from Above.

Answer 2

Most large cities lie in areas deposition near rivers.  Most of the soil is from upstream and is deposited in floods.  A little bit is from non flood deposits. Some is blown in the wind. Some is from landslides.  Some is from worms digging around.  Grass or plants may take root over the ruins making it more likly for soil to deposit there.   There are others minor sources as well and it depends on the location.

Answer 3

You've gotten a variety of answers, and, indeed, there's no one source.

Often people live there for a long time, so all the stuff of their lives makes up some of the coverings.

And wind blows dirt and often seeds to a place.

Once plants establish, their roots help break down the stone the cities are made of.

And rain and wind also break stuff down.

So some of the covering is parts of what once made the city, some is trash from later inhabitants, and some is blown in by wind.

I hope someone who really, really knows the full story weighs in on this.

But from documentaries and my own head, the above are what I came up with.

Answer 4

Mudslides from mountains

Answer 5

wind and floods

Answer 6

It happened during  the flood in the bible. It makes sense beings we have all the oil in the ground that is highly pressurized bio matter. And every where  all over the Earth there are fossils that scientist can not explain. The grand canyon was also formed at this time, it's all sedimentary rock and humm ,where did all the dirt go from the thousands of miles of the grand canyon?

Answer 7

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind.

Answer 8

Ooo you are a silly Dkal

They didn't know how to build in those days.

They didn't use any foundations - so the cities sank . . . .

And here's something else you didn't know - the pyramids are upside down.

If you could jack one up and look at the bottom you will find the words "Other way up" - but the Hebrew slaves couldn't read Egyptian. . . .

Answer 9

There are so many?  Which layer, where on the planet are you referring?  How long ago?  There have been so many earthly changes that cause these things.  For instance, 225 million yrs ago, the Earth used to have but a single body of land.  Pangea was its name.  One super continent and with quakes and other natural phenomena it has been divided into what we have today.

Answer 10

We make it. I once worked in a sealed room for 2 months. We closed the hatch and made our own air, cleaned it, scrubbed it, painted it, it still got dirty. Everything sheds, erodes, regenerates. Dirt is a byproduct of life.

Answer 11

They are many reasons depending on the locations of the ancient ruins. But the most common, is organic matter deposition, caused by the falling of dead vegetations that decompose and increase ground level. To give you an example the tomb of St-Pierre at the Vatican city, was said to be at the top of a hill, when you visit St-Pierre de Rome you must go underground to get to the original tomb, as the hill has been covered over the last centuries...