Questions tagged [geology]
For questions about rocks, minerals and the physical structure and substance of the world.
455
questions
5
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4answers
370 views
What environmental conditions would result in Crude oil being far easier to access than coal?
So, A bit of a long winded explanation:
I am designing a world that is meant to be both nostalgic and alien; A world that is familiar enough at first glance, but has many differences to ours.
One ...
6
votes
6answers
618 views
How can a troglodytic society democratize braille literature?
Premise
The surface of my world cannot support life. The inhabitants of my world sustain themselves off troglophauna and aquifers. I'm leaving the mechanics of where energy comes from in this shadow-...
12
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7answers
3k views
How to get blue sand
I want to have a blue furred species native to a desert in the world I'm building, so the obvious way to have that is to have the sand of that desert be blue so they are camouflaged. I could just say ...
4
votes
2answers
298 views
What would happen if the Somalian tectonic plate was suddenly lifted directly up?
I am writing a book where prior to the current events, an event caused by a magic surge resulted in the Somalian tectonic plate to be quickly lifted directly up enough to create a new continent. I was ...
1
vote
1answer
85 views
How does this island rotate without melting the whole half of the planet with friction?
My friend asked me if a 150-200 km wide island (more precisely, a lithospheric plate of such size) that rotates insanely fast by the geological terms, something around one rotation per week, is ...
9
votes
1answer
273 views
Planet with natural process(es) that results in cube-shaped mountains
Premise
The task is to explain how a planet can possess cube-shaped mountain ranges and maintain them across geological time scales. I have tossed around several ideas, such as creating a vacuum ...
0
votes
0answers
15 views
How high could a super-mountain get on a lower gravity planet (0.7g)? [duplicate]
I’m thinking of a world with one extremely high mountain that would factor prominently into the mythology of the civilizations. I’ve heard that it’s estimated that 10,000 meters is about as high as a ...
4
votes
2answers
118 views
How viable would it be to dig down on Mars to build an underground colony?
I want a colony on Mars that builds BOTH ways, up and down. Domes or structures that go up normally, but a large portion of the colony would be levels underground.
I think this would allow you to take ...
5
votes
1answer
134 views
Endless rain in a cave
I am currently designing an extensive big volcanic cave system located underneath a glacier, which contains a phenomenon of underground rain. The nearby volcano is still active, and heats the ice year ...
4
votes
4answers
370 views
Could a tsunami separate two landmasses?
I posed here a question about a super-earthquake separating a Pangaea-like continent in a matter of days. Unfortunately, one of the answers rightfully points out that such an earthquake would generate ...
2
votes
1answer
128 views
Valles - a world of deep canyons, could it work?
I’m developing Valles - a world of deep canyons, and I need some opinion on geology, hydrology and climate.
Valles has earthlike mass and density (for simplicity sake). Planet’s surface is a desert. ...
0
votes
2answers
88 views
UPDATED: What phenomena could be powerful enough to hide an island?
Edit: My original question concerned the magnetic properties of gems in this world. As I have realized more and more through the answers how unrealistic this is, I am now seeking input on any general ...
2
votes
2answers
76 views
Continental drift of a planet over 900 million years
Over the past 2 weeks, I've been attempting to create a planet with a plausible continental drift. I was really hoping to get some kind of response to my work.
I'll stick up my hand and admit it right ...
2
votes
1answer
72 views
Planet covered in non-Newtonian fluid
Basically, I watched that horrible holiday special. The animated short that introduced our friend Boba Fett, and there’s a planet that’s apparently covered completely by a non-Newtonian fluid. What ...
1
vote
1answer
88 views
Determining maximum cave depth
I am planning on making this planet of caves, and it has cave systems that dwarf Earth's. It's got carbon-based life, a chemical composition rich in copper, a good amount of water, and less gravity ...
0
votes
0answers
29 views
Fossil fuels production optimization
I'm sure that a jungle planet would probably have more fossil fuels than Earth, as there'd be a lot more organic carbon, which would get buried underground and converted into fossil fuels. We'd ...
2
votes
3answers
67 views
What happens if continental crust overrides a divergent boundary?
I'm wondering what would happen in this hypothetical scenario. Enjoy these super high-graphic visual representations -
Figure 1 -
Figure 2 -
Figure 3 -
Figure 4 -
What happens to the plate ...
4
votes
1answer
588 views
Mountain inside a “crater” after a meteor impact?
A meteor crashes in a very geologically unstable region of an earth-like planet.
A few years later, a person visiting that site will find the following features:
A concave depression, of a circular (...
0
votes
3answers
104 views
how to cause a supervolcanic eruption
I want to make use of the Toba Catastrophe Theory in my story. From Wikipedia:
The Youngest Toba eruption was a supervolcanic eruption that occurred around 75,000 years ago at the site of present-day ...
4
votes
1answer
69 views
How could a civilization survive a continent splitting cataclysm? [closed]
Say the lost continent of Lemuria was real, and was home to an ancient sophisticated civilization that like the Atlanteans, dabbled in high technologies and forbidden magicks. Due to their fatal ...
7
votes
2answers
998 views
What temperatures would occur several meters below different types of deserts?
What temperatures can one expect 50-150 meters below different types of deserts? The rocks in my campaign heavily feature iron sediments, like in Australia, but since this is a fantasy world I am open ...
8
votes
4answers
2k views
How Would the Mountains Form in This Supercontinent?
Here is a supercontinent map generated randomly from the Donjon website:
Now, hold on just a minute. Something looks wrong. The mountains in brown and white are too far inland to be caused by ...
1
vote
1answer
186 views
What is the largest a mountain could be? [closed]
On a given planet, what is the general way to determine the maximum height a mountain can reach?
3
votes
1answer
68 views
How can room sized amethyst geodes form commonly?
I would like my Earth-like planet to have a very strange feature. Near spherical amethyst geodes with diameters up to 11 meters - the size of a large room, form commonly underground at depths from 30 -...
2
votes
2answers
103 views
Can this natural park support the growth of 200 to 300 meters tall trees?
In my last question, I was asking what kind of shelter would need my arboreal civilization (Here is the link).
To recap very quickly : they constantly live in heights of giant trees, and never go down ...
1
vote
1answer
69 views
How big could a caldera volcano possibly get?
I've found most websites saying that 100 kilometers is the maximum size of a caldera volcano, but none of them explain why this is the case. So, can caldera volcanoes get any bigger than this and why ...
3
votes
4answers
102 views
How would volcanism be different on a terrestrial planet denser than earth?
Specifically, how would volcanism be different on a terrestrial planet with these parameters:
Mass: 0.38 Earth
Radius: 0.7 Earth
Density: 1.1 Earth
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votes
5answers
5k views
Is there something wrong with my fictional lighthouse?
I'm writing a story of a fictional location on Earth, or a very Earth-like world, perhaps set in the late 1800s, or at some point when lighthouses were still in use.
It's located on the Eastern end of ...
3
votes
2answers
178 views
Coal or coal analogs without Carboniferous?
In my world, there could be no Carboniferous, during which the overwhelming majority of coal was deposited on our planet. No swamps probably exist either, cutting off that way of generating coal as ...
3
votes
1answer
93 views
How could life exist underneath a world too small for a magnetic field?
In a new documentary made by melodysheep called LIFE BEYOND II: The Museum of Alien Life, the creator proposed there could be life on a planet too small for a magnetic field beneath the surface.
But ...
4
votes
4answers
206 views
A world with extremely limited fossil fuels
So this is a slight revision of my earlier idea, of a world that entirely lacks fossil fuels. So basically the big idea I'm interested in is an industrial revolution that fully goes through with the ...
10
votes
10answers
2k views
Can a mountain range form with a very loose surface?
In my story there is a mountain range which is almost impossible to climb because it is very steep, and it has a very, very loose surface. Wherever you put your foot, the ground is liable to slip away ...
4
votes
4answers
211 views
How to maximize the sand depth of a desert planet
NB: There is a related question – What kind of planet could have giant sand worms? – but this one is concerned specifically with the sand. Giant sand worms would be awesome incidental.
Assuming a ...
6
votes
2answers
161 views
Would Plate Tectonics Act Differently on an Earth-like Planet Where Water Makes Up the Minority of the Surface Rather Than the Majority?
My apologies for the extra long title, so let's get to the point. There is an Earth-like planet with a very dry personality. Six to ten percent of the surface is water, averaging in at 30-100 meters ...
3
votes
4answers
291 views
Where would rivers and lakes make sense on this continent?
Fellow world-builders, I need some guidance. I've been drawing a map of the continent Anai'vora, the landmass where my current D&D Campaign takes place. I'm very new to world building, and this is ...
6
votes
5answers
472 views
Is it plausible for a world without fossil fuels to have developed naturally?
So the idea of worlds like this has been brought up a few times, about how human technology would have developed without fossil fuels, but the question I have is whether it is plausible for a world ...
5
votes
3answers
138 views
Giant rift with lava at the bottom
I’d like to consider continental rifts on massive scales. I’m trying to imagine one about the length of California that is so deep, a long “river” of lava flows along its length. The rift walls ...
5
votes
1answer
70 views
Can post-glacial (icesheet) landforms be present on the warm desert (BWh/BWc)?
How realistic would it be to have moraines and dried lakes on deserts? I plan to have a salt lake with a few rivers flowing in - how much time would they have to erode canyons?
Natural disasters ...
9
votes
3answers
427 views
How to make drooping mountains?
In How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the town of Whoville is situated between a few drooping mountains. Here's an example taken from the movie:
The tip droops, and the mountains can rise either ...
3
votes
1answer
134 views
What kinds of rock formations might hint at terraformed mountains?
I'm working on a concept for a terraformed world with artificial mountain ranges/plateaus that stretch higher than a natural formation possibly can. I picture them like extremely tall table-top ...
23
votes
4answers
3k views
A company offers fossilization as funeral option, how could it be credible?
A very powerful funeral company offers fossilization as burial options to very rich clients.
Of course, no one can check if it would actually work in a few million years, but the company shows great ...
2
votes
2answers
181 views
Are my plate tectonics/land masses realistic?
I'm building a new planet up from scratch, and wanted to get a sanity check on my plate tectonics and land masses. It doesn't have to be 100% realistic, but I'd like it to be plausible to someone who ...
2
votes
1answer
79 views
How to create a volcano?
In the near future, humanity as a whole decides they need a new volcano at unspecified location X. The bigger, the better, short of a cataclysmic world-ending scenario. The reason behind this desire ...
9
votes
5answers
1k views
What locations in a galaxy would be best for stone carvings to remain undamaged or worn down for as long as possible?
I want a species of alien to leave their mark throughout the galaxy with stone carvings and temples. Taking influence from ancient religious stone carvings and decoratively sculptured temples carved ...
15
votes
14answers
4k views
What resources (especially mineral) can you find on terrestrial planets but not asteroids?
I'm writing about people living in space who can mine asteroids and I'm wondering what minerals or other resources, if any, they might need access to larger planets for. Since planets and asteroids ...
2
votes
2answers
217 views
What would happen to an indestructible meteorite?
A meteorite lands on our Earth. It is made of a rigid, indestructible material (containing a payload). When the meteorite strikes, its kinetic energy will cause a blast of stones, dirt, heat, etc. ...
4
votes
3answers
177 views
Where else would mountains be on this continent?
Okay fellow nerds, I am in need of assistance. I am making a fan-made map for a book series and I have run into a problem. The problem being while I love making maps (fun hobby) I am trying to ...
7
votes
6answers
333 views
world with a lot of plateaus and very little plains [closed]
I want to create a gimmick world, that is ALMOST entirely covered up with massive mesa/canyon-like structures : flat-topped elevation ridges or hills bounded by steep escarpments. The space in between ...
3
votes
2answers
354 views
Would this be a plausible coastline + river combo?
So, for an area of my world, I'm imagining three cities situated along the stretch of a river, running from a lake in the mountains onto relatively flat terrain (though still a bit above sea level) ...
6
votes
2answers
139 views
What is the crust of a habitable planet with Io-like heat-pipe tectonics made of?
The Jovian moon Io is geologically active like Earth, yet it experiences heat pipe tectonics instead of plate tectonics.
Heat-pipe tectonics is a cooling mode of terrestrial planets in which the ...
