During my childhood, my family went on several backpacking trips each summer up into the alpine, high in the mountains near our remote wilderness home. The process of erosion and decomposition was always so vivid on those trips. If you have ever walked all the way from the glacial mountaintops to the lowlands, you will have seen the progression of stone breaking down into rich humus.
If you observe from these high peaks, you can see the receding blue ice of the glaciers eventually exposes stark grey bare stone. Next, you will see the line where the bare stone is slowly being invaded with yellow and orange lichens. A few tiny plants seem to grow on nothing. Progressively the stones are smaller, eventually yielding way to patches of spongy, rich pockets of moss, alpine flowers, and grasses. Small shrubs transform into large trees and shallow rocky side hills become thick forest floors.
Eventually, if you continue down into the valley, you will walk through thick bogs, forests, and fields, and you may only see a few stones here and there. It is likely that you would see more and more animals, and insects will be busy around you. You might even consider living there, thinking it could be a home for you.