# How long would it take for a modern city to disintegrate... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 2, 2010, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-for-a-modern-city-to-disintegrate/548887 "2010-08-02T14:00:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-for-a-modern-city-to-disintegrate/548887/61 "2025-12-07T02:36:35Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The future archeo-squirrels may not know who we were, but they’ll be certain somebody was here and left a big mess. They may wonder at the size of the nut horde we planned to bury. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-for-a-modern-city-to-disintegrate/548887/62 "2025-12-07T15:43:52Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > I’ve also been to every station on the London Underground (except Battersea Power Station Station) and through the Channel Tunnel, and those are holes that will be around for millions of years to come. speaking of huge holes: Chile’s Chuquicamata Mine (largest open pit mine - (world’s largest hole and second largest orange hole)) is easily recognizable from space… and given its environment, will be there for thousands or hundred-of-thousands of years - prob. only to be mitigated by seismic activity > **[Google Earth](https://earth.google.com/web/search/Chuquicamata,+Codelco,+Chuquicamata,+Calama/@-22.30459081,-68.91188308,2762.74220754a,19854.33805396d,35y,150.36227379h,59.54499653t,0r/data=CiwiJgokCeALBaAlWTZAEeALBaAlWTbAGcPUUWwxnklAIf6ZrLCRv0rAQgIIAToDCgEwQgIIAEoNCP ___________ wEQAA)** ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-for-a-modern-city-to-disintegrate/548887/63 "2025-12-07T17:14:08Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > no doubt on that … but depending geography and weather … you might get 1-10 days of those per year whereas in the tropics you might get up to 365 days of plant/root growth … I think you’re underestimating the number of days. For example, last year, we had a very mild January and February, where the temps were hovering around 0C for two months. That meant thaw-freeze cycles every day and night. It’s not just a couple of days in the spring and fall; goes on throughout the winter. There’s a reason all of our houses have basements: it’s to get below the frost line, or else the house would collapse. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-for-a-modern-city-to-disintegrate/548887/64 "2025-12-07T17:46:50Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > They may wonder at the size of the nut horde we planned to bury. 😄 ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-for-a-modern-city-to-disintegrate/548887/65 "2025-12-07T20:35:07Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Not sure I understand this statement, but Rome and Detroit still exist. Even a lot of Roman Empire stuff is still around, including the city of Pompeii and that was blasted by a volcano. Pompei is a special case, it was immediately covered by a thick layer of ash. So perhaps it’s a good example of the case of “holes and tunnels filled in” level of archeological preservation. There’s an exposed section of brick wall near the tower of London that was the original Roman wall \_ buried until recently. Hadrian’s wall is still visible, but as a pile of grass-covered rubble. The Great Wall of China is kind of an anomaly, various sections are 600AD, most of the good parts are about 1300AD and under constant repair for tourists. (I have a picture somewhere I took of some fellow repairing some of the steps ( “Government project - 600 years and still under construction…”) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-for-a-modern-city-to-disintegrate/548887/66 "2025-12-07T22:15:33Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > > [@Lumpy](#): > > > > They may wonder at the size of the nut horde we planned to bury. > > 😄 Which leads to the question: Was @Lumpy thinking the squirrels would be wondering about how vast a number of ordinary sized nuts would fit in that hole? Or instead that the squirrels would think a hole of that size was needed for just one of our Nuts of Unusual Size? N.O.U.S.? 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-for-a-modern-city-to-disintegrate/548887/67 "2025-12-07T22:59:13Z")
It might be taken as evidence supporting a revival of the “mesas are the stumps of giant trees” theory. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-for-a-modern-city-to-disintegrate/548887/68 "2025-12-08T05:57:02Z")
[SQUIRREL!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Faa2dHJNFqQ) ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-for-a-modern-city-to-disintegrate/548887/69 "2025-12-08T09:35:58Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > second largest orange hole Must… control… myself… to avoid political jabs in this forum. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-for-a-modern-city-to-disintegrate/548887.md?page=3)