I haven't read most of the posts in this thread, so I apologize if I restate or resurrect
an old topic. But anyway, I guess I'll share whatever I know. Not much. I'll start
with plate tectonics;
--On a collision boundary between two land plates, there are mountains; the crust has
nowhere to go but up.
--On a diverging boundary, shield volcanos (gentle) raise up. Check out the Mid-Atlantic
Ridge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for an underwater example, as well.
-- On a collision boundary between two land plates, one ocean crust is pushed under the
other. The rock and water trapped under plate #2 fuels the creation of magma. On this
boundary you have cone volcanoes (active) and a trench (located where one plate goes
under the other).
--On a collision boundary between one land mass and one ocean, you'll find an off-shore
trench and cone volcanoes.
--On a sliding boundary, where one plate is going past the other, you'll have a fault.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/hazards/q...sanandreas.jpg
--Note that earthquakes (and, when underwater boundaries are involved, Tsunamis) will
occur at many plate boundaries. An island chain is formed by the movement of a hot-spot
(mantle plume) moving with the plate. Bigger islands are newer because they have not
yet been subject to weathering.
--Finally, I think most cartographers know about puzzle fit. When two plates with land
pull apart, it looks like they could go back together.
Some of this might apply to the map you posted in the introductory post to this thread.
I'd also like to add that a lot of the features and their locations will be in correspondence
to the other features. A valley might have lush forest due to a water-shed. All the rivers
coming down and washing the soil out from the mountains will create good soil for
growing (not to mention, trees need water). Plus, mountains can create rain on one side
(I'm thinking of Seattle and the West Coast of South America) So, following my logic, I'd
imagine the mountains would be surrounded by forests and rivers. Your rivers looked to
comply with "science" well.
What I'd be interested to learn about would be lakes. I live near a lake and enjoy doing
so, but I don't see why a lake would form. That's cartography "science" I don't understand.
Any ideas? Best of luck, I know everyone here tries to be really informative.
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