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It would be very circumstantial but, if creatures lacked the cautions that arcane knowledge might have given them, they might have built on ground that could be magically undermined.

If the earth surrounding a wall was loose, removing that earth could effectively remove the buffer that might otherwise prevent gravity from damaging the foundation of the wall and the wall itself. Whereas the wall's weight would have been its strength, it could have become its undoing. don't...

which you did regarding your "zero effect" assertion which I disputed.

Certainly. Sand directly beneath a building would be effectively clamped in position. However, if you removed sand to the side, a sand slip might potentially result.

The PC can only see the surface of the dirt. Nonetheless, the cantrip description states "You choose a portion of dirt or stone that you can see within range and that fits within a 5-foot cube". Even though you can only see the dirt particles on the visible surface, the spell permits effects...

The sands remain rigid under downward pressure but, in my understanding, minimal upward pressure could cause them to move due to a lack of bonding between the generally loose ground.

If by saying that, when a hole can be dug (even over an extended period of time) with a wooden shovel, we could also say that a 5ft cube of this earth could be moved in 6 seconds by magic, then many castles and town buildings would easily be able to be undermined via the spell as a downtime...

Being able to move 5ft cube quantities of loose earth by magic with one 6-second action is definitely fantasy, albeit with a relatively base outcome. I think it's also fair to analyze any fantasy spell to evaluate exactly the kind of things it is capable of.

And, even if you can see down in a hole, mold earth only lets you, at best, manage loose material to a 5ft depth as per "If you target an area of loose earth, you can instantaneously excavate it, move it along the ground, and deposit it up to 5 feet away." I'd say that if you had...

Yeah, the spell is useless, for undermining siege applications, at least on the widely accepted interpretation that settled soils don't count as loose. Yeah, but not many fortifications would have a ninth-level druid, sorcerer or wizard available to cast wall of stone. But this spell would...

That's a good point, Perhaps it's just clerical strongholds like the one in Masada of strongholds in valleys that might still be in trouble.

I hoped to dispute that they can be swapped: That's fair. But I don't see why, say, a wizard could not cast mold earth to an equivalent extent that they could cast firebolt or that an archer could fire arrows.

Cities like Tel Aviv are built on sand dunes. It works because the packed sands are fairly rigid as long as they are undisturbed. Even relatively squidgy typically feldspar-type clays can be built on though these wouldn't naturally fit the characterization of loose soil. I can imagine...

So, the druid, sorcerer and wizard cantrip, Mold Earth has a range of 30 ft, three options of effects on "a portion of dirt or stone that you can see within range and that fits within a 5-foot cube" and a first option that, "If you target an area of loose earth, you can instantaneously excavate...

Grave digging in rocky soil: 7 ft * 6 ft * 2 ft (84sqft) in 6 hours Mold Earth in loose soil: 5ft * 5ft * 5ft (125sqft) in 6 seconds

The Fates 24 Flames 24 + 1 = 25 Jester 26 Key 18 Knight 20 Moon 16 Rogue 21 Ruin 25 Skull 25 Star 24 Sun 22 Talons 18 Throne 4 - 2 = 2 Vizier 25

Yep, digging was hard work and took time. I'd be interested in daily quotas for ditch, canal and other digging say in Victorian times. I'd seen something on this previously but haven't found them again.

Mold earth could certainly have a great effect on quarrying and mining. Lines of quarriers and miners could loosen materials and the caster could do some major level clearing up. But, RAW, the spell works with loose earth. It doesn't loosen earth.

If mold earth could move non-loose earth, you could rapidly undermine many structures, without risking mining. ⚒️ A lot of worldbuilding could be rapidly unbuilt.