Dirt is one of the first blocks introduced to Minecraft. It has the same texture on all six sides. Dirt is very common on normally generated maps, making up the majority of the top layers of blocks, between grass or snow and stone. It is also found underground in clumps in all altitudes and can also be found at the bottom of deep waters. It's a weak type of block and is easily destroyed by any of the Tools.
Terrain[]
Dirt is usually used to level the terrain. When a Dirt block is adjacent to a grass block and is exposed to a light level of at least 4, usually from it will eventually be converted into a grass block; the exact time this happens is random and unpredictable. It is useful as Scaffolding because of its abundance.
Mining[]
Dirt is simple to mine and is often acquired in large amounts when unmonitored during its excavation. It will always drop a resource block, regardless of how it was mined. It may be mined by hand fairly quickly, but using a Shovel will significantly speed up the process. It takes 1.6 seconds to mine it with your hand, it takes 1.2 seconds with a Wooden Shovel, and it takes about 0.7-8 for a Stone Shovel.
Crafting and Uses[]
Dirt is not used in any default crafting recipes whatsoever. The only functionality offered by this block is a necessity for growing certain plants, and as a cheap material for when a player wishes to block off branches of a cavern, build walls or scaffolds, or any similar task that requires a medium to a large number of blocks that are not affected by gravity.