Questions tagged [environment]
For questions about an environment or aspects of it such as geographical, atmospheric or climate.
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Movement of magma and the build up of the magnetic fields around the earth. I am not a scientist [closed]
As I understand it the liquid centre of earth (magma) effects the magnetic fields around the earth. I recently read a pice re aurora increased sittings being linked to increase on electrical fields. ...
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What would flora and fauna look in a world with a denser atmosphere? [closed]
Update - Ok to be more specific how would a denser atmosphere affect the terrestrial vegetation in this planet? For starters in Earth we can very broadly say we have 4 types vegetation
Grasses - ...
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How might the surface of a tectonically active planet appear without a global ocean?
I hope this is "specific" enough, and sorry I don't really know formatting rules yet.
I'm trying to build a habitable desert super-Earth, where water can only exist seasonally around the ...
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How expensive to take 80% of plastics out the ocean?
Suppose that all the world would work together to take plastic out of the ocean. Here I include microplastics, which are much harder to remove.
How expensive would it be to remove 80% (in wheight) of ...
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An ocean-planet made out of deadly, non-water chemicals
I'm currently working on a comic-series set in a solar-system that isn't ours, and i'm reworking most of my planets.
One of them, a cold ocean-planet below freezing temperatures that orbits its k-...
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Effects of breaking down the oceans plastic within 5 years [closed]
The oceans are full of plastic. In a story about the morals of DNA changes, one scientist meaning well creates a group of super bacteria/microorganisms (afterwards just called bacteria for simplicity ...
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Can nature adapt to life without constant access to sunlight? [duplicate]
I create a world where the sun's rays no longer reach the planet, due to the clouds completely covering the sky. Nature must therefore adapt to life without constant access to photosynthesis. I haven'...
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How many impacts to kill 90% of the human race?
Present day Earth is attacked by a volley of relativistic impactors. Each is designed to hit the surface1 with a yield of 1 gigaton TNT equivalent. They're also poorly aimed. None are destined for any ...
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An industrial revolution without overt, visible pollution/alternatives to coal?
BACKGROUND
Fantasy setting, highly rural/pastoral. Social landscape is significantly more egalitarian (but far from idyllic) with no serfdom tying a peasant class to the land. Magic exists, but ...
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What would cause a large & long lasting regional increase in rainfall?
So after the answers on my last question, I got some very useful information about why the idea in the question wouldn't work. I looked into it more and figured that the best solution to the problem ...
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How many airborne bacteria can I put into the air while keeping it breathable?
I have a setting where I want the atmosphere to basically be filled, heavily and consistently, with a bunch of small, airborne bacteria-like cells/microscopic biomatter. For the sake of keeping the ...
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Would the substellar point on a tidally locked planet with a large continent over that point and oceans around the edges be covered in rainforest?
I have been working on a tidally locked planet for some time now. During this time I have worked under the assumption that the substellar point would be arid because of the constant bombardment of ...
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Plausibility, habitability and conditions of shell-system
I have some questions regarding the feasibility of this planetary shell-based construction. I have read other questions about shell worlds, but this case has some unique elements, so I thought I would ...
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On a planet with Arrakis-style sandstorms, could a single windbreak protect much of a city?
Planet has wind that flies at an indistinct speed - fast enough to fling razor sharp debris around though that's what I have built. I will tweak it as necessary but they are considered life ...
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How can kaiju exist in nature and not significantly alter civilization?
I'm building a world where kaiju-sized creatures exist alongside regular-sized creatures. How these kaiju don't crumble under their own weight doesn't matter, and can be explained away by them being ...
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If we were to discover an alien ecosystem that has a D-configuration of proteins, how would it react to our L-sided biology?
I'm working on a hard-sci-fi story where a scientist discovers microorganisms in our solar system with disastrous results. I was thinking about how any cross-contamination with an alien ecosystem ...
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What are some reasons for the population of a small, relatively unremarkable area to suddenly boom?
In the semi-democratic Empire known as the Aurean Dominate, the small peninsula of Sparteia has seen a population explosion over the past two centuries or so. Located in Argentolia, the most populous (...
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What could Kaiju do to stop us from travelling into deep space?
The world's overrun with Kaiju but, while they kill many and cause much destruction, our civilization continues, migrating inward, away from the coasts where the Kaiju typically occupy.
Question is ...
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How the sky will change with stratospheric aerosol injections?
The world I am designing has successfully survived the event of the almost complete depletion of natural oil reserves. By "successfully" I mean that cities are densely populated, the stock ...
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What would happen to earth if atmospheric escape were completely stopped?
One day, the earth suddenly gets covered by a spherical barrier that allows waves (light from the sun, radio, etc.) to pass both ways, but not matter. Let's ignore the feasibility of that kind of ...
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Appearance of sky in space habitat with low (50 m) ceiling, using mirrors and blinders
Background
I have considered rotating space habitats of various forms for my worldbuilding projects (i.e. cylinders, rings/torii, spheres) and recently discovered this intriguing design by physicist ...
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Breathable air on large space habitat with no water?
I am theorising a scenario in which humans land on a continent-size space habitat of alien origin (probably a rotating habitat).
The gravity is similar to Earth's (96/97% of Earth's) and the air is ...
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Would it make more sense to terraform a planet with a single climate or multiple varieties of climate?
A human civilization in my story has terraformed hundreds, possibly thousands of planets across their galaxy to support life. They have done this by changing the atmospheres, adding minerals into the ...
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Magnetic levitation train vs ordinary train: which migh fare better in Martian environment?
I'm refining my previous question about magnetic levitation trains on Mars. In my story, set on Mars, two settlements are connected by a railway line. Currently, it is an ordinary train of the type ...
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Is there reason for a large subterranean area to be cold?
There is a roughy 2500x2500x500-1000ft / 750x750x150-300m enclosed subterranean area. The roof is ~250 feet / 75 meters (at most) from the surface. I understand that the thermal gradient will largely ...
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How can I make the rules of my Faerie Portal free from contradiction?
On the hilltop in the field near my house, there lives a coven of witches. Or, more accurately, there is a coven of witches living in a pocket of the Faerie Realm which has recently become attached to ...
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Can ecological collapse happen in a person's lifetime?
I'm writing a story for a character who is a an old monster hunter. In his younger days, he used to make a living by hunting the most dangerous monsters which are basically the story's equivalent of ...
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Space with a breathable "atmosphere" - How to make it kind-of believable?
The idea in its simplest form is that a stellar system of planets is within a transparent gas cloud that includes oxygen. The gas cloud is so incredibly dense (around sea level earth pressure) that ...
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How do my genetically altered people survive a smokey environment?
I have a world heavily polluted. A war long ago sustained by automated factories has kicked up a significant amount pollution and debris into the atmosphere. This has caused a permanent mist/fog of ...
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Things to Consider When Creating a Fantasy World Map [closed]
If I have a world that follows the same rules as Earth, (Same size, gravitational pull, age, same equator, etc.) what are some rules with geographical features that this world would need to follow? ...
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Would a carnivore that can only see in infrared be an effective predator?
I'm trying to design new animals. One animal I came up with is a type of nocturnal & carnivorous predator that is shaped like a very large wolf. This predator sees in infrared light instead of ...
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If humans all disappeared would it be good for the environment? [closed]
SIGNIFICANTLY UPDATED
I've seen similar questions, but not the answer I'm looking for (kinda - obviously all answers are...well...answers).
Yes, I am aware that what I'm asking is really multiple ...
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Balancing ecosystems with monsters [closed]
When worldbuilding, I am trying to fill my world's nature with a lot of dangerous monsters. However, there was something I realized I forgot to do, and something that I notice many fantasy creators ...
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What would my Sun look like to fit the properties of my Earth? - Part 2
Continuing on a previous post of mine (link: What would my Sun look like to fit the properties of my Earth?) where I wanted my planet to orbit around its Sun in 365 (Earth-)years. However this did not ...
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How can intelligent insects defend themselves from the cold?
The world is an icy wasteland, populated only with dark fungi burrowing through the irradiated earth. The last plant life in this desert is cultivated in great cities of ants and honeybees. A few ...
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Can I Have a Semi-Liquid "Sea" of Sand?
I am thinking of adding an element to my world that is primarily desert that consists of a semi liquid sea of possibly high silica sand that's inundated with salt water. Would such a mixture have the ...
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Could an ecosystem exist where no rain falls (only snow and ice)?
I am trying to create a boreal, alien ecosystem loosely based on Northern Siberia. Liquid rain never falls here, since snow and hail fall instead for most of the year, and the short, hot summers- the ...
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What would my Sun look like to fit the properties of my Earth?
I want to have a realistic solar system as a home for my planet.
My planet must look like Earth, with the exception that each orbit around its sun takes 365 Earth years. Hence a season would last ...
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What planetary orbit and geology would speed up an ice age?
I have a first-contact scenario where I would like an ice age to be occurring rapidly. All the things that could change to make a fast ice age more credible: orbital period (403.42 local days), length ...
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Would a permanent, but semi opaque, planet wide cloud coverage cause an ice age/dramatic temperature drop?
On Earth over the course of time, a permanent cloud envelops the planet due to various reasons. However, unlike a nuclear winter or permanent ash cloud situation that completely blots out the sun, ...
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Environmental Conditions for an Inland Saltwater Swamp
I'm running a game where players can choose from a customizable list of traits and features for the terrain in the world, and one thing they've created is a saltwater swamp. However, they didn't ...
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What is the best non open-air farming method for a country in an environmentally degraded planet?
The surface and skies of Earth have been heavily polluted through various issues. Climate change, war, biological/chemical warfare, nuclear weapons etc. The sky is blanketed in a permanent semi opaque ...
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Can we use consistent ashfall to help reclaim or create topsoil?
Earth has reached a point of significant desertification due to issues such as climate change, deforestation, pollution, etc. Because of this there's significant topsoil loss across the planet. What's ...
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If a planet wide mist/thick cloud layer covered the planet that let little sunlight through, what does large scale farming look like?
Imagine a thick layer of clouds, mist, ash etc of sorts that blankets the higher atmospheres of a planet such that nights are nearly pitch black and daylight is range of greyish (think of a heavily ...
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How Can a Millionaire Care For His Pet Ichthyosaur?
Let's say due to time travel shenanigans, a millionaire has acquired an ichthyosaur:
What must our millionaire do to keep his new pet long term? Could it just eat modern fish? Would the salinity be a ...
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What types of environments and geographic features can uranium be found in? [closed]
There is a magic society, created by sorcerers to escape persecution. Their society is isolated from the main kingdoms, though they eventually will trade with them again in less than a few decades. ...
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What Gas Would A Dead Kaiju Have To Release To Cause Torrential Rain?
Assume my kaiju has just been blown open by the military, its organs and intestines spilling out.
What gas, either released from its innards or released during decomposition, could ascend and cause ...
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Giant Freshwater vs Saltwater lakes
I am doing worldbuilding on a region centered around a gigantic lake in the sub-tropical region in the northern hemisphere of a planet. I want the lake to incredibly huge, like around 2 million square ...
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How can my fictional race of humans extend the area of their world they can explore?
This world is an alternate Earth similar size, mass and distance from its star to our Earth. The atmosphere is similar in composition to Earth except at 5000m altitude the pressure is two bar and the ...
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On a planet with 99% humidity all of the time, how would human skin evolve?
This world has an incredibly high humidity rate all year round and I'm curious as to what - if any - evolutional changes might occur in human skin. Would it just be less porous or would there be a ...
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