WIP World Map

[Arimel]

So here is an update. This image is again in the eckert IV projection and shows the type of plate boundaries and directions of movement of the plates. I have tried to base the types of boundaries off of earth's plates though I am not sure how successful I was. Feedback would be appreciated.

Also, I have not placed any hotspots yet as I want to ensure that the boundaries make sense first.

[Arimel]

I have only just taken the time to upload the next version of the map, despite having finished it a week ago. The only difference is that this map includes potential hotspots and island arcs. The map is centered on the region that has the most hotspots and, as such, the rest of the map seems a little empty from this perspective. This map should be the last one to meddle in the tectonic plates.



The next step is the create a height map, so that I can move on to the ocean currents and the wind currents.

As always feedback is appreciated.

[Kalium]

Ooh, more tectonics nerdery. Always a plus. Might I suggest putting some island arcs around your oceanic subduction zones where the land gets pushed up?

[Falconius]

Don't forget rotation. It's the only way for a plate to move in more than one direction at once. Second point is that plates have a reason to move the way they do, don't forget the effects of inertia and mass. I always imagine them sort of as rough bits of styro floating on a ball of water, and while the inside of the ball may be spinning one way they don't want to move as much as the insides and so wlii generally try to stay still resulting them in moving the other way.

[Pixie]

This map should be the last one to meddle in the tectonic plates.

The next step is the create a height map, so that I can move on to the ocean currents and the wind currents.

As always feedback is appreciated.

Advice about creating a height map: there's two good ways to have a go at it.

(1) Several layers, each one corresponding to a certain height - layer on top being the tallest.
You can use any color and recolor it at any time, as each layer should only be either solid color (100% opacity) or transparent.
PROS: easy to make adjustments to topography; translates neatly into a modern topographic style map
CONS: depending on the number of layers it can be (very) time consuming; if you want to turn it into a sort of DEM, you run into a "steps" problem

(2) One black&white layer, with white being the tallest
If you know what you are doing and you have a tablet/graphic pen, this might work better. And if you know your ways around gimp/photoshop you can do a lot - have a look at what Charerg is doing with his world!
PROS: It's already a kind of DEM, easier to port to Wilbur for detailed erosion, for example.
CONS: I'm partial, but I think it might be harder to work on without messing up local altitudes all the time.

Concerning feedback to the present state... your tectonics, hmm, humm, either invest the next 3 months redoing it or never think about it again

[Arimel]

Ooh, more tectonics nerdery. Always a plus. Might I suggest putting some island arcs around your oceanic subduction zones where the land gets pushed up?

I might be miss-understanding you here, but I thought that I had put the island arc regions over all of the oceanic subduction zones. I must admit that I am not very 'fluent' in tectonics, this being my first real attempt at understanding them so I most likely am missing something. Still, I think I see a few other regions that I may add more island arcs where the continental plates meet the oceanic plate in the oceans.

Don't forget rotation. It's the only way for a plate to move in more than one direction at once. Second point is that plates have a reason to move the way they do, don't forget the effects of inertia and mass. I always imagine them sort of as rough bits of styro floating on a ball of water, and while the inside of the ball may be spinning one way they don't want to move as much as the insides and so wlii generally try to stay still resulting them in moving the other way.

Falconius, do have a source that explains this for me? When I originally designed the plate movements it was (and is) rather random. A source that explains the reasoning for the tectonic plate movements would be greatly appreciated.

[Pixie]

When I originally designed the plate movements it was (and is) rather random. A source that explains the reasoning for the tectonic plate movements would be greatly appreciated.

It's not random at all. If you start reading about it, you'll notice that a lot of your current map makes little sense. That's why I just wrote that you either leave it or dive deep (taking the risk that you'll loose heart halfway - most people do).

These rules of thumb, by Christopher Scotese, are an easy read to start. You should also have a look at Scotese's videos on youtube.

[Arimel]

Advice about creating a height map: there's two good ways to have a go at it.

(1) Several layers, each one corresponding to a certain height - layer on top being the tallest.
You can use any color and recolor it at any time, as each layer should only be either solid color (100% opacity) or transparent.
PROS: easy to make adjustments to topography; translates neatly into a modern topographic style map
CONS: depending on the number of layers it can be (very) time consuming; if you want to turn it into a sort of DEM, you run into a "steps" problem

(2) One black&white layer, with white being the tallest
If you know what you are doing and you have a tablet/graphic pen, this might work better. And if you know your ways around gimp/photoshop you can do a lot - have a look at what Charerg is doing with his world!
PROS: It's already a kind of DEM, easier to port to Wilbur for detailed erosion, for example.
CONS: I'm partial, but I think it might be harder to work on without messing up local altitudes all the time.

Concerning feedback to the present state... your tectonics, hmm, humm, either invest the next 3 months redoing it or never think about it again

I know know my tectonics are pretty inaccurate but I do not want to go to the lengths that some of the others I have seen around the guild have done to make their tectonics perfect. I do not think I have the patience or skills to make the plates much more realistic. Still, should there be any small tips for improvement I can look into them.

As for the elevation map, again, I am not going to go to the lengths of Charerg or the others. I am simply going to try and find the general heights of everything so that I can later form the ocean/wind currents, precipitation, and finally the climates. At that point I will start the actual map. My elevation map will be in colors though.

[Falconius]

I don't know about all that stuff Pixie linked. Looks like it says a lot of meaningful things. The way I do it is like I described before, just by reasoning out how it would act if it was all bits of floaty material on a giant ball of water that was spinning. I imagine that along the equator the plates would have in general the most mass and speed and that they'd be moving in the opposite direction (relatively) to the spinning of the earth (really they'd just be rotating slightly slower, but it's not important). So those plates along the equator are going to be driving the rest of my system. If a plate has an edge along the equator plate like Plate A there it might start to rotate around it's pivot. So while it's general movement would be mostly to the east, the back (eastern) part of northern edge will be pushing north, and the western part of the southern edge will be pushing south. Whilst at the same time the front (western) part of the northern edge will be moving away from the northern neighbor and vise versa for the south.

Remember that if a plate is big enough that it is on the equator and also extend over the higher or lower latitudes this in and of itself may cause it to want to rotate.

I don't think you got to get these things perfect, you just got to get them to a level where they can reasonably be said to make sense.

[Charerg]

I don't know about all that stuff Pixie linked. Looks like it says a lot of meaningful things. The way I do it is like I described before, just by reasoning out how it would act if it was all bits of floaty material on a giant ball of water that was spinning. I imagine that along the equator the plates would have in general the most mass and speed and that they'd be moving in the opposite direction (relatively) to the spinning of the earth (really they'd just be rotating slightly slower, but it's not important). So those plates along the equator are going to be driving the rest of my system. If a plate has an edge along the equator plate like Plate A there it might start to rotate around it's pivot. So while it's general movement would be mostly to the east, the back (eastern) part of northern edge will be pushing north, and the western part of the southern edge will be pushing south. Whilst at the same time the front (western) part of the northern edge will be moving away from the northern neighbor and vise versa for the south.

Remember that if a plate is big enough that it is on the equator and also extend over the higher or lower latitudes this in and of itself may cause it to want to rotate.

I don't think you got to get these things perfect, you just got to get them to a level where they can reasonably be said to make sense.

As far as I know the "spin component" in plate movements is essentially nonexistant, though I can only speculate why that is the case. Possibly the crust as a whole is too much of a solid, inert object for the Coriolis force to have an effect?

There seems to be a prior thread about this in the guild, actually. Apparently there does seem to be a slight westward trend in the direction of present day tectonic plates, but it's unclear if it's caused by the Coriolis force or just coincidence.

An old post by Chick over in that thread offers a pretty good explanation (I think so, anyway):

Yes, theoretically it does, but on a scale so small as to be undetectable, and completely overwhelmed by other factors.

Consider your bathtub drain, a common example for Coriolis Effect. Theoretically, the water will always swirl going down the drain in the same direction (depending on which hemisphere you are in), but in practice it you watch and record it, the water will swirl left 50% of the time and right 50% of the time on average. Why? Because other factors such as movements in the water, even bubbles in the drain, affect it more strongly than the Coriolis Effect does.

Another common question is whether rivers are affected by CE. Rivers do not tend to flow more westward because of CE even on very flat land, because the terrain they flow through overwhelms any CE. Rivers do, however, tend to flow more heavily toward the westward side when constrained by heavy terrain, so that in mountain passes, most of the erosion is on the west side. On flat land, where the river meanders, the meandering goes both directions because the softer terrain lets the flow overwhelm any CE.