I dug a hole in the earth and when I went to fill it back in, ran out of dirt. How?

Question

I used all the dirt I had taken from the hole aside from the small amout caught up in the grass. But it was a sizeable amount still needed to make it level. Where did the dirt go?

Answer 1

u also filled any air pocket that might have been in the dirt prior to digging it so buy filling in those pockets it made it seem like u ran out of dirt and not able to fill the hole

Answer 2

there are several possibilities here: 1- rocks and roots that were taken out were not replaced; 2- the earth you originally dug up was not as compacted as the dirt is not in the hole. in other words the dirt now is denser then it was thus requireing more soil to fill the same hole.

Answer 3

Mass and density are two different things. If you packed the earth into the hole - particularly if you used water to get the dirt to clump more closely together, then you have compacted the earth more densely, taking up less space.

It is not unusual for earth to become loose over time from weathering, drying, earthworms, etc.

Answer 4

You packed down the dirt as you refilled, perhaps.
Also, if the earth/dirt was dry, air filled in the soil (aeration).

Answer 5

You lost it in the grass and you probably packed it down as you were filling it in but the ground isnt packed that tight so now you're up piss creek without a paddle.

Answer 6

You don't think the worms were going to hang around waiting on the offchance you were gonna dig them back in, do you? They were probably worried you were a fishing fan and did a runner at a very slow pace.

Answer 7

the dirt wasnt compacted when you started and when you filled in the hole you compacted the dirt.

Answer 8

Because you didn't remove enough dirt to start with, silly.

Answer 9

I don't know I usually have extra dirt.

Answer 10

It's all there, just packed differently...