Why is dirt almost always a brown color?

Question

Why is dirt almost always a brown color?

In: 329

Answer 1

*Albert H. Munsell rolling in his grave*

I’m an archaeologist, so I do a lot of digging. Part of that is to record the color of soil changes so we can judge how intact or disturbed a soil layer is. To record the color, we have to use a Munsell Soil Color Book. There we have a wide range of browns, from red to yellow to black to pink, even green and white.