how long does it take a body to decompose underground?
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When buried six feet down, without a coffin, in ordinary soil, an unembalmed adult normally takes eight to twelve years to decompose to a skeleton. However if placed in a coffin the body can take many years longer, depending on type of wood used.
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“The rate of decomposition varies greatly due mostly in part to environment. A hot, dry climate could reduce a body to brittle skin and bones in 2 weeks, where a cool, boggy environment could take months,” Melissa N. Unfred, a Texas-based mortician, tells Bustle.
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A body presents little threat to public health in the first day following the death. However, after 24 hours the body will need some level of embalming. A mortuary will be able to preserve the body for approximately a week. Regardless of the embalming, decomposition will begin after one week.
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It takes around 12 hours for a human body to be cool to the touch and 24 hours to cool to the core. Rigor mortis commences after three hours and lasts until 36 hours after death. Forensic scientists use clues such as these for estimating the time of death.
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Eight to Twelve years: When buried six feet down, without a coffin, in ordinary soil, an unembalmed adult normally takes eight to twelve years to decompose to a skeleton.
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Without preservation techniques like embalming or mummification, your body slowly begins to decay the second your heart stops beating. It starts small, down at the cellular level. Your cells die, then bacteria, animals, and even the body itself digests your organs and tissues.
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"However we've found that in highly oxygenated deeper water, it can be expected that such a body would be skeletonised in less than four days, although bones could be recovered for six months or more." How quickly you decompose also depends on the time of year.
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Bone and skin cells can stay alive for several days. It takes around 12 hours for a human body to be cool to the touch and 24 hours to cool to the core. Rigor mortis commences after three hours and lasts until 36 hours after death.
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It can take between eight and twelve years for an unembalmed body buried six feet down, to decompose to a skeleton. This can vary – or take longer– depending on the climate, moisture in the soil and the kind of coffin they were buried in.
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When buried six feet down, without a coffin, in ordinary soil, an unembalmed adult normally takes eight to twelve years to decompose to a skeleton. However if placed in a coffin the body can take many years longer, depending on type of wood used. For example a solid oak coffin will hughly slow down the process.
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24-72 hours after death — the internal organs decompose. ... 1 month after death — the body starts to liquify.
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If the coffin is sealed in a very wet, heavy clay ground, the body tends to last longer because the air is not getting to the deceased. If the ground is light, dry soil, decomposition is quicker. Generally speaking, a body takes 10 or 15 years to decompose to a skeleton.
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How long can the body remain preserved? A body presents little threat to public health in the first day following the death. However, after 24 hours the body will need some level of embalming. A mortuary will be able to preserve the body for approximately a week.
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Septic tanks are pumped every few years, and the bones would not decompose. The body may or may not decompose in a septic tank. A containment tank using lye or acids can accomplish destruction of a body in about 50 hours or less, especially if combined with heat.
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The bodies of the drowned sometimes surface on their own, but this depends on the qualities of the water. The putrefaction of flesh produces gases, primarily in the chest and gut, that inflate a corpse like a balloon. In warm, shallow water, decomposition works quickly, surfacing a corpse within two or three days.
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On an average, it takes about one to three hours to cremate a human body, thereby reducing it to 3-7 pounds of cremains. The cremation remains are usually pasty white in color.
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When buried six feet down, without a coffin, in ordinary soil, an unembalmed adult normally takes eight to twelve years to decompose to a skeleton.