Comment by throw310822
8 hours ago
How long to dissolve carved stone sculptures (in sizes ranging from 1cm to 100m?)
And how long does it take to dissolve skin? Footprints? Because we have those from hundreds of millions of years ago.
8 hours ago
How long to dissolve carved stone sculptures (in sizes ranging from 1cm to 100m?)
And how long does it take to dissolve skin? Footprints? Because we have those from hundreds of millions of years ago.
> How long to dissolve carved stone sculptures (in sizes ranging from 1cm to 100m?)
A quick search on "rock weathering depth per century" suggests a "typical range" of 0.05 mm to 6 mm, depending on rock type and environmental factors. At 0.05 mm, a stone object with radius 0.5 cm would crumble in 10000 years. With radius 50 m, it would take 100 million years.
I would expect them to be unrecognizable long before that though.
> And how long does it take to dissolve skin? Footprints? Because we have those from hundreds of millions of years ago.
What do those findings tell you about the cognitive abilities and social organization of the creatures who left them behind?
> A quick search on "rock weathering depth per century"
That's a great illustration of what I meant. Of course an exposed rock consumes away in the space of a few millennia- this is exactly where the "Silurian theory" comes from. Yet it's also obvious that we have plenty of perfectly conserved rocks that are intact after hundreds of millions of years- i.e. fossils. Any small sculpture buried in clay can survive for an eternity.
> What do those findings tell you about the cognitive abilities and social organization
Skin? Like, with clothes on, or the shape of clothes? And shoes and hiking gear? Footprints with the shape of boots? Drawings "I LOVE YOU" in the sand? The shape of a coca-cola bottle buried in solidified clay? Come on...