WIP - (ambitious) World Map of fictious earth-like planet

[Azélor]

Actually, some heavy elements are pretty ramdom. Gold for instance, can only be "produced" from stars, unlike diamond which the planet's pressure is high enough to produce. So diamond are more closely related to tectonics.

[Charerg]

Actually, some heavy elements are pretty ramdom. Gold for instance, can only be "produced" from stars, unlike diamond which the planet's pressure is high enough to produce. So diamond are more closely related to tectonics.

While there's theoretically small amounts of gold everywhere, where it actually appears on the surface in sufficient density to be minable is sort of controlled by tectonics. That's because tectonics largely determines where the denser bedrock materials are exposed and which areas are covered with sediments. For example, some old rift like the Amazon Basin could have several kilometres of sediment piled up over the bedrock, so you'd have to dig really deep before actually reaching the layers where you might find valuable ores.

[Azélor]

Aren't climates playing a big role too? There are sediment because it is a tropical forest but the same area in a desert might have less sediment? (Assuming it has been a desert for a very long time)

[Charerg]

Aren't climates playing a big role too? There are sediment because it is a tropical forest but the same area in a desert might have less sediment? (Assuming it has been a desert for a very long time)

Maybe, but even deserts are still subject to erosion, so lowland basins would still likely be filled up with sediments and sand. I don't think climate makes a big difference in this case. Also, it's worth noting that some geologic feature like a hydrothermal vein is often required for the formation of ore deposits sufficiently rich to be worth mining. The majority of world's copper deposits occurs at subduction areas, as an example, because the "ore genesis" of porphyry copper ores is related to volcanic activity.

There's a pretty substantial wikipedia article on the geologic origin of various ores.

[Pixie]

Alive and kicking, but updates are - as always - rare and incomplete.

I've spent a lot of time over g.plates, developing a detailed-beyond-any-reasonable-actual-need tectonic model of Maward. I'm still only halfway through the process. Doing this, researching and learning more Geology along the way, figuring out what works and what doesn't in G.Plates, has been a very rewarding trip (for a strange kind of geek like myself).

However, at this point, I thought I could make an animation of the period 160 Ma - 80 Ma. Being a little detailed, it's best viewed as a youtube video rather than a gif, so I'm posting the link.

All thoughts and comments are very welcome.~


Click here

[Charerg]

That is an extremely impressive piece of tectonic geekery, Pixie! Though I was a bit bummed when the video cut short at 80 Mya (too used to seeing tectonic reconstructions of Earth, I guess ). The fact that your video is pretty much comparable to actual tectonic reconstructions of Earth speaks for itself, this is a truly outstanding piece, unlikely to be surpassed any time soon. I mean, even I wouldn't consider going quite this deep into tectonic details, and if I wouldn't, I'm not sure who would !

[Pixie]

Thanks for dropping in and giving some comment, Charerg.

the following 80 mA - up to modern age - will probably take another few months . I'm having a lot of fun doing this, even when I need to work out dirty little corners/triple junctions where things are messy and quickly changing. The plus side is that I now have a bag of tricks to solve those conundrums. Still, it's geekery to its most pointless degree, sometimes, I spend hours working out some detail only to get that bit of crust subducted 20 million years later.

As for comparisons to the many million times more detailed Earth... I'm glad you think there is some comparison, but a lot (most) is, as you know, guess-estimates and blatant simplifications.

[zoqaeski]

This is absolutely incredible work, Pixie. Reading through it over the last couple of weeks (as well as the tutorials by Charerg and others) has been a huge inspiration to properly figure out the geological history of my own world.

How have you set up your GPlates model? Does the present day contain all the historical plates as per the Paleoatlas by CR Scotese or do your plate outlines appear and disappear according to their geological timeline?

[Pixie]

Thanks for the compliments.

Time is scarce nowadays, so I mostly lurk around at the Guild. When possible, I work on tectonics of Maward - Yeah, still at it, working the 60-40 Ma period mostly, but going back and reworking areas every now and then. The level of detail isn't healthy, seriously, but I can't stop

I wrote it would take me a few months to work 80-0 Ma. This was last September... almost a year in and still not happy with the first half of it. Always refining, always refining, always (beep beep bop crash... )

Well, so thank you for the kind words, I'll put them to use as motivational speech. Expect developments sometime in the next, er... weeks to years.

[Charerg]

Nice to see you're still alive and kicking (well, mapping...), Pixie. Somehow that stuff about saying "it's going to be done in a few months" sounds familiar. I wonder why that is... oh, right, I might have mentioned something along those lines during my last major update (which was in October if I recall). Somehow those "few months" tend to become rather elongated in the process .