# How long would it take Nature to destroy the evidence of human existence?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-nature-to-destroy-the-evidence-of-human-existence/351228>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [April 4, 2006, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-nature-to-destroy-the-evidence-of-human-existence/351228 "2006-04-04T10:39:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 7

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-nature-to-destroy-the-evidence-of-human-existence/351228/121 "2008-01-26T03:19:17Z")

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[QUOTE=ralph124c]  
I saw the show, and I don’t believe it. For example, the Empire State Building rests on bedrock. As long as its stone face stays on, the steel skeleton will stay intaqct. It will probably last several thousand years.  
[/QUOTE]  
Or until the next glacial period, when all of New York will be scraped clean down to the bedrock.

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**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-nature-to-destroy-the-evidence-of-human-existence/351228/122 "2008-01-26T23:35:17Z")

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[QUOTE=Fear Itself]  
Or until the next glacial period, when all of New York will be scraped clean down to the bedrock.  
[/QUOTE]

Perhaps. Last time, NYC was about the southern limit - Lawn Guyland represents the terminal moraine (actually, a couple of them IIRC).

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-nature-to-destroy-the-evidence-of-human-existence/351228/123 "2008-01-27T00:53:02Z")

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[QUOTE=Xema]  
Perhaps. Last time, NYC was about the southern limit - Lawn Guyland represents the terminal moraine (actually, a couple of them IIRC).  
[/QUOTE]  
Well, it was close enough last time for the glacier to [scour rocks in Central Park](http://people.hofstra.edu/j_b_bennington/ny_geology/manhattan_prong/manhattan_prong.html), so I think it is quite likely it would happen again.

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**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-it-take-nature-to-destroy-the-evidence-of-human-existence/351228/124 "2008-01-27T02:08:59Z")

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Well, with Global Warming the city will probably be flooded out first (and perhaps buried in sediment) before a new ice age buried it under ice. So…maybe the glaciers would eventually uncover what the seas covered up for those theoretical alien visitors…

-XT

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