<p>I am talking to some students about how soil changes, and I've heard from soil samplers that the texture of the soil, i.e. whether it is sand, silt or clay, doesn't change in a human lifetime. It would be great to tell my students how long it does take, but I can't find this information anywhere. Is it something that isn't known? It must be a hard thing to determine?</p>
<p>The closest I've come to a statistic is that it takes thousands of years for soil to form, or that only a millimetre of soil forms each year, which is vaguer than I want to be.</p>
<p>Can soil chronosequences tell us the rate of weathering?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-11T18:27:55.340Z
this depends a lot on the local conditions, in particular clay tends to require the presence of liquid water.
John
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-13T17:11:22.853Z
Silt changes into clay in the presence of Water. Sand Changes into silt because of erosion
Tardy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-17T03:37:48.167Z
Are you including changes due to wind or water erosion, or do you mean just degrading in place while growing plants?
Keith McClary
<geology><soil><weathering>
How fast does sand degrade into silt, and silt into clay?
regular
# How fast does sand degrade into silt, and silt into clay?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-06-11)

I am talking to some students about how soil changes, and I've heard from soil samplers that the texture of the soil, i.e. whether it is sand, silt or clay, doesn't change in a human lifetime. It would be great to tell my students how long it does take, but I can't find this information anywhere. Is it something that isn't known? It must be a hard thing to determine?

The closest I've come to a statistic is that it takes thousands of years for soil to form, or that only a millimetre of soil forms each year, which is vaguer than I want to be.

Can soil chronosequences tell us the rate of weathering?

**Tags:** geology, soil, weathering

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: this depends a lot on the local conditions, in particular clay tends to require the presence of liquid water.  
> **username_2**: Silt changes into clay in the presence of Water. Sand Changes into silt because of erosion  
> **username_3**: Are you including changes due to wind or water erosion, or do you mean just degrading in place while growing plants?  

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## 0 answers

