how many inches

[DDEXPII]

OK this is what me and my dad been fighting about!
How many inches of topsoil generates in ten years in the woods?
I was thinking about one and not much more then that.
So let me know what you all think, so we can put this to bed!!

 

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[U.K. Brian]

None. I'm surrounded by old Churches, castle ruins etc in woodland areas and in six hundred years the ground level has hardly changed. You can compare to the bottom of the doorways, internal floor height etc.
Think of the average wood. The tree draws up water and minerals from the soil to create its leaves or needles thus reducing the volume below it slightly but at the same time is dropping leaves to breakdown again to replenish the ground.
Have a wood at the bottom of a hill with water run off carrying down mud and its a different matter.

 

[Natman]

It depends. As long as the ground has been maintained around the buildings the level of the ground won't change much since debris from trees is always removed.

As far as wooded areas go, I know that my own property (that's heavily wooded) drops TONS of leaves that decay and add to the actual "height" of the ground. I'd say that an inch every 10 years is not far off the mark.

Also the type of tree debris that falls each year makes a difference..oak leaves take 3 years to decompose while maples for example, take only 6 months.

Nat

 

[lumbercamp]

About 25-30 years ago, I started collecting bricks. I had no place to put them except on the ground behind my house, in the woods. Over the years they were covered up by leaves. I dug them up a couple years ago and they were 2" deep. These were oak leaves and as Natman stated they take longer to decompose, which is one reason I don't use them in my compost pile.

 

[lumbercamp]

I've got to add that I have dug logging items that were over a hundred years old that were not even an inch deep, so go figure.

 

[EDDE]

i plucked a 1891 indian right off the top of the ground
just scrubbed the dirt with my foot
it was just covered with dirt to the naked eye
this was a few months back in the woods a few towns away
was about a 80 feet from a early 1900s dump
during the spring and summer there is little if any undergrowth(grass thistle weeds etc)all leave drops

 

[Don in SJ]

Great discussion item, there is no one answer but if you do some research on "Deposition of Soil" you will see statements like : One inch in 500 years and one foot in 150,000 years.

I have a geology book somewhere, if I can find it I will see what it says if anything. There are a lot of myths amongst the metal detecting community on why coins are at what depths they are.

I will try and find some factual statements about that if I can. I will say this. The amount of topsoil that forms is without a doubt different from one location to another, since it does depend on how much vegetation grows and is deposited. But a lot of factors happen before that humus turns into soil. I tend to believe in the woods the amount of deposition varies greatly, due to factors like , wind, heavy rains, forest fires, (which is a major factor), frost and I am sure there are many others.

I live where the soil is almost non-existant in the woods and also most areas experienced severe logging many times over the past two hundred years. In the woods, the vast majority of my Colonial era coins that in theory have been in the ground for over 200-250 years are usually between 4-8 inches with most closer to 4 than 8 inches.

Of course it is hard to say if the wooded sites I hunt were gardens where the soil was turned over, or heavy foot or horse traffic that would also effect the depth of the object.

Again, interesting subject, gee , maybe "sinking" of coins can be discussed also.

Don

 

[OldBillinUT]

Something to consider is the climate of the area. In areas that have a higher year around average temperature the microbial activity is more constant and the organics are consumed more steadily and less soil is created. In climates that have winter the activity is slowed during that part of the year and humus can accumulate building up the soil. I read this in a soil science book when I had a farm to care for. Before that I thought that tropical areas would make more soil because of the lush growth but I did see an article about a National Geographic expedition where the writer showed how thin the topsoil was in a pic. They had a land rover get stuck in mud and hooked the winch to a good sized tree. When they tried to pull out the tree came down on the truck doing a lot of damage. Thin soil and shallow roots was the explanation of the writer.

 

[DDEXPII]

Thanks for your responses. OK what about deep woods in the northeast? MA NY NJ VT ME CT RI

 

[NH Bob]

My experiance in the woods has me finding Indian head and Wheat pennies 100 years old at not more than 3-5 inches.
At the same time I've found Colonial coppers 200 years old at that same depth and as deep as 14".
I think the natural drop and decay cycle for a year is 1/8" or less.

 

[OldBillinUT]

This addresses that question in a roundabout way http://soil.gsfc.nasa.gov/inch/soiltime.htm

 

[OldBillinUT]

And another office puts it at 50 to 100 years per inch

http://www.epa.gov/superfund/students/clas_act/fall/recipe.htm

 

[OldBillinUT]

500 years per inch here http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=soil

 

[DCMatt]

Why bother asking...? You know guys ALWAYS lie about "how many inches".

DCMatt

 

[DDEXPII]

Thanks to all of you for your time. OldBillinUT thanks for the links

DCMatt your right my wife thinks this is 10 inches
l<-----------big ten-------->l
LOL

 

[NH Bob]

You mean its not !!

 

[Youngladd]

IMHO It greatly depends on the density of the soil, the amount of water in the soil and climate in that area.

Here near northwest of chicago where i live we have a lot of water in the soil and when winter comes the ground freezes and expands. we have roads that actually heave several inches up and crack. This expansion and contraction over the years has an effect on the depth of coins. I mostly find clad 0-4 inches and 50-60 year old silver 7-10 inches. I have a feeling that in my area coins 100 years+ are beyond my detection range. If I want to look for those i would have to go to a construction site where the top 12 inches of soil has been bulldozed off.

 

[Rich in Central PA]

I would have to say.................It varies: location, climate conditions, soil type, etc.

However.............lets say all things considered equal under idealistic conditions, I would say:

1 inch of topsoil/depth = 20 years + or -
10 inches = 200 years + or -
12 inches = 220 years + or -

I am basing this on a coin that I found at approximately 12 inches here in Central Pennsylvania. If it was dropped in 1773 and lay in the ground and found its way to a depth of 12 inches in 2000 then that would be 227 years in the ground. BUT every situation is different depending on the variables I stated above.........Rich