2
$\begingroup$

I created landmasses thanks to Azgaars Fantasy Map generator. It was not based on any consideration so far, like tectonic plates due to lack of expertise. It was done purely based on a personal preference.

Now I am clueless to where it would make sense having mountains on those land masses.

I would be intereste on your take

Edit: Thanks for all your answers and suggestions!

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
14
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking. $\endgroup$
    – Community Bot
    Commented Jan 28 at 21:32
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Ignore the bot. We understand what you're asking, sort of. With that in mind: "make sense" in what sense? Make sense geologically? Make sense for the purposes of writing a story? $\endgroup$
    – KEY_ABRADE
    Commented Jan 28 at 21:33
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ @KEY_ABRADE I'd presume he wants "Make sense geologically", making sense for the story isn't something we can answer not knowing the story and is something he'd already know himself (knowing the story, or such of it as may or may not exist yet) .. I would guess that he's looking for some usable rules of thumb that can be applied to the map he's drawn by anyone without a deep understanding of plate tectonics that will give superficially plausible results for those that do? $\endgroup$
    – Pelinore
    Commented Jan 28 at 21:56
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ What I mean to say is that geography had been doing just fine for thousands of years before this new-fangled plate tectonics fad came in. Geography is primary; plate tectonics is a post factum explanation. Just draw your mountains as you want them, and then let geologists explain how they formed the way they formed. $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Commented Jan 28 at 22:21
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @AlexP isn't wrong. There's a fad today to make everything as "realistic" as possible. It's not as valuable as you might think. However, if you really do want to chase that rabit, start here. (An argument could be made that all questions like this should be closed as a duplicate of the linked question, but I'll leave that to a Meta discussion.) $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented Jan 29 at 5:39

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
5
$\begingroup$

Since you didn't place the landmasses out of geological considerations, you can do the same with the mountains, and then, only if you really need it for your story, find a plausible tectonic which can explain the mountains you have placed.

Tolkien wrote a lot about middle earth, but spent no words, as far as I know, on explaining why the mountains were where they were or why mount Doom was there; this lack of explanation hasn't bothered any of the readers of his work, even though due the law of probability it must also encompass a fair number of geologists.

Remember that your world has to be realistic enough to support your story, not to satisfy the scientific scrutiny of a multidisciplinary pool of scientists.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Funny that you mention Tolkien because he actually did discuss why some of his mountains defied science. The Lonely Mountain for example, he knew was a geological improbability; so, he credited its formation to the Arkenstone itself. This is to say, it's okay to defy what is expected. As long as you know when you are breaking the rules, you can always put a nice magical lampshade on it. $\endgroup$
    – Nosajimiki
    Commented Jan 30 at 20:39
2
$\begingroup$

Continental plates meet - where landmasses get close together, so where straits are or once were. There you will see mountains, like a crumpled cloth pushed up.

Finally, there are old leftover mountains- left behind where to plates met and melded together. Those are withered down.. slowly collapsing back in. Finally - some mountains are just the result of continents being high- and water carving large valleys away elsewhere- leftover pillars and plateaus..

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Don't forget the odd volcano caused by a random bulge in the mantle that has nowt to do with the plates floating on top of it. $\endgroup$
    – Pelinore
    Commented Jan 29 at 16:02
1
$\begingroup$

Mountains can really be anywhere. Volcanoes on Hawaii, the Andes, the Himalayas - completely different types of mountains in completely different settings. There is erosion by water and glaciers and natural chemicals which can form mountains and deep valleys in pretty much any shape; which can level out parts of a mountain range and leave others untouched. Just choose the ones that support your narrative (whatever it may be).

Also, the mountain range which encloses the land of Mordor is in a rectangular shape. Good luck finding this shape on our planet.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
3
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ "Mordor . rectangular" well, Tolkien's world was sung into being by a bunch of magic beings able raise and flatten mountains on a whim, they changed it's shape more than once, even from flat with no sun to a globe with one, so he'd got himself covered there on any unnatural appearing features I think :) $\endgroup$
    – Pelinore
    Commented Jan 29 at 16:04
  • $\begingroup$ World building done right $\endgroup$
    – YumYumPizza
    Commented Jan 29 at 17:12
  • $\begingroup$ Look up Aimogasta, Argentina. This is the largest town in a roughly square mountain basin enclosing over 1000 square miles. There is also a rectangular mountain formation in Mauritania that is enclosed on the North, South, and West, but open on the East just like Mordor, but these mountains have been mostly buried by the sands of the Sahara desert; so, they are not that impressive to look at today, but 20,000 years ago would have looked a lot like Mordor. $\endgroup$
    – Nosajimiki
    Commented Jan 30 at 21:21

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .