Questions tagged [geology]
For questions about rocks, minerals and the physical structure and substance of the world.
502
questions
4
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2answers
67 views
Consequences of a Super-Light Super-Earth?
In this scenario, there is a rocky planet that is 230% the width of our Earth, covering a total area of a billion square miles, 55% of which consists of three continents separated by a single ocean ...
3
votes
4answers
124 views
Can an Earth-like world of shallow, global, seas be stable over geological time?
The following existing questions Shallow sea world - plausable geology?
Would a shallow ocean planet be possible? both address shallow seas on Earthlike planets but don't touch on global oceans of ...
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1answer
56 views
What material could be found (Mining) on this planet? What could I do to have more important materials on this planet?
The planet is Earth-like with gravity: 1.05 Earth's, an Atmosphere of N2: 94% / H2O: 1% / CO2: 1% / Ar: 3% / 1% Other gases with 1 atm pressure at sea level, 40% of the land is H2O water, there is ...
2
votes
1answer
122 views
How realistic is finding ore veins in natural caves?
I used to play World of Warcraft and a few other MMOs for their crafting systems and always wondered what a fantasy RPG with a crafting system would look like with a more realistic distribution of ...
5
votes
5answers
169 views
What would cause oceans to disappear?
I'm writing a story that happens on a dry and arid planet that has only a few oasis's where life can thrive. Life on this world either lives in the oases or lurks in the sand waiting for migrating ...
2
votes
1answer
56 views
perpetual music geo machine
while traveling the world merchants have noticed the sound of many melodies repeating through night and days, in some regions melodies shift tone or speed based on the time of the day, and each region ...
0
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2answers
76 views
Would my gas giant have rings?
The gas giant in question is about 3 times the mass of jupiter with a density of 3.58 grams per cubic centimeter. It formed naturally beyond the system's forstline and then migrated into the habitable ...
3
votes
1answer
59 views
How many tectonic plates should my moon have?
I have been wondering, what factors influence the number of tectonic plates a planet would have? Are there criteria to choose the number?
Case in point, for my habitable moon project, here is the ...
1
vote
2answers
240 views
If a lightspeed impactor "clipped" the Earth, would the resultant valley remain stable for geological timespans?
Let's say that some aliens fling a hyper-super-duper-lightspeed impactor at the Earth.
They barely hit it.
Instead of a direct hit through the center of mass, the impactor "clips" the Earth ,...
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votes
7answers
226 views
Is water recycling really necessary in space?
Solar panels = energy
Mineral harvesting machines= materials
3D printers that print solar panels= infinite energy
So we got the energy part out of the way for space travel, just build more satelites ...
12
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9answers
2k views
How does a species of animal dig through rock instead of dirt?
What would animals that dig through solid rock look like? How would they differ from animals that dig through dirt?
So basically I am trying to populate ravines and canyons with fauna that digs ...
5
votes
7answers
208 views
How to plausibly justify a species growing mineral-based protrusions that resemble horns or spikes?
I'm currently designing a sapient species for a science fantasy setting that's supposed to be a herbivorous, physically resilient, and bulky sort. They currently bear some resemblance to boars or ...
2
votes
1answer
100 views
What are some non-military reasons for a country wanting to control an impact crater where the Strait of Gibraltar used to be?
Let's say that there's a 2-million-year-old impact crater where the Strait of Gibraltar used to be, and that there's an impact peak or a series of impact peaks in the middle that are far enough above ...
0
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0answers
44 views
Would a gigantic meteor impact in the Strait of Gibraltar create a peak-ring crater, or at least a complex one?
Background:
A peak-ring crater is a sub-type of complex crater (an impact crater in which the impact wave rebounded from the rim of the crater and pushed up a mountain in the middle) where, instead ...
0
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0answers
68 views
Would a meteor blowing up the Strait of Gibraltar 2 million years ago kill all of humanity's ancestor species?
Let's say that, 2 million years prior to the present day, a meteor impacts roughly in the middle of the Strait of Gibraltar. It is large enough and strikes at sufficient velocity to create an impact ...
31
votes
12answers
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The erosion problem on floating islands
Even the tallest mountains will be ground to dust with time. Given, of course, nothing sustains them (like tectonic activity which prevents mount Everest from eroding away too quickly, even making it ...
3
votes
3answers
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Any advice on what is a realistic way to use plate tectonics to create landmasses and barriers?
Recently I've taken it upon myself to create a brand new fantasy world. I created fantasy settings in the past but this is the first one with such a strong emphasis on realism and staying true to our ...
2
votes
5answers
384 views
What kind of rock could I use in my mountains?
in my world there is a mountain system where most of the rock is some kind of material or mineral that conducts heat very well. So much so that there is no snow on the peaks as it melts quite quickly ...
5
votes
5answers
613 views
Gargoyle Safety 101: Choice of statue material
In my setting, among various other magical creatures, gargoyles exist. They're winged, horned, tailed humanoids (if you picture the Disney show, you'll have an accurate enough mental image to work ...
8
votes
10answers
923 views
How can I justify that dunes keep drifting and cannot be stabilised?
I have the idea of a fantasy civilization based around shifting dunes. The idea is that the land is largely uninhabitable except for the coasts, but there are large dunes that function as habitable &...
4
votes
4answers
235 views
How would a corrosive sea not erode the foundations for islands?
My world consists of a large number of islands laid out in a hexagonal pattern, each one circular and large enough to support a small community. At the center of each island an obelisk sticks out of ...
7
votes
2answers
326 views
What would happen if a tungsten rod massing 1000kg slammed into the surface of Callisto at 15% of the speed of light?
I am writing a sci fi story and I want to know what would happen if a tungsten rod massing 1000kg slammed into the surface of Callisto at 15% of the speed of light? Given that there is a subsurface ...
8
votes
2answers
201 views
How to Build the Fictional Continents Using Our Real Continents
Presented here is a map of Earth with the fictional continents resurfaced, by the Redditor "Stagman1111":
Source
From left to right, the presented additional continents are Mu, Atlantis and ...
3
votes
4answers
110 views
Reef World 3 - Wandering Islands on the oceans of Reef World
Piggybacking on "Massive volcano on reef world?"
Pumice is a porous volcanic rock that while hard is friable (can crumble). What if my “Olympus Mons” equivalent volcano on Reef World created ...
4
votes
2answers
116 views
What POD Would I Need For Earth's Lost Worlds to Exist Today?
This is a map of Earth as depicted by the DeviantArtist ToonHolt:
As you can see, many new landmasses have been added, from lost worlds like Sundaland, Zealandia and Kerguelen, to fictional worlds ...
6
votes
1answer
94 views
Could a land mass reasonably exist where I want it on my earth-like binary planet? [closed]
I've been doing a lot of research lately on my binary planet system for the series I'm writing. Some details I've already worked out:
The system's star is 0.6 solar masses, 0.8 solar radii and 0.3 ...
3
votes
1answer
103 views
Can a water world be turned into a dryer habitable planet by an early runaway greenhouse effect?
Consider an Earth clone with oceans several hundred kilometers deep, potentially deep enough to solidify into exotic ices. Such a planet would lose its initial hydrogen and helium atmosphere when the ...
11
votes
6answers
2k views
A planet without the materials to make jet engines -- plausible? [closed]
A continuation of Are there *plausible* planetary conditions where jet aircraft just don't have much advantage over propeller-driven aircraft?
OBJECTIVE: A planet where propeller-driven aircraft ...
4
votes
2answers
373 views
Massive volcano on reef world?
Piggybacking on my previous question:
Possible reef world?
An answer in that question included that reef world is an "old, old world. (So)The core has frozen and plate tectonics have stopped...&...
11
votes
6answers
1k views
Possible reef world?
Piggybacking off this question:
Shallow sea world - plausable geology?
what would we need to have a world covered in reef?
An entire world of this:
If I understood them correctly the previous ...
8
votes
6answers
2k views
Reasons for insanely huge precious metal deposits?
In my book series, there is this extremely rich Earthlike planet called Aurea whose claim to fame is supplying the vast majority of the galaxy’s precious metals (gold and silver for the purposes of ...
3
votes
1answer
104 views
Magic liquid that falls like rain, how will that affect the weather patterns and landscape? [closed]
So, my knowledge of weather patterns and geology is very limited, but I'm writing a book where magic is an abundant liquid substance that behaves similarly to water. I'm not sure exactly what it'll be ...
4
votes
3answers
820 views
How fast and how would fjords erode?
I'm working on a world that hasn't had an ice age in 250 million years and looking at how to shape the coasts.
I'm thinking about fjords (also glacial lakes) and trying to figure out if they would ...
4
votes
2answers
147 views
What will Glacier Bay National Park look like in 2000 years?
I am working on a story that takes place roughly 2000 years after a worst-case-scenario climate apocalypse. It revolves around a society located in present-day Glacier Bay National Park on the Alaska/...
1
vote
1answer
72 views
What would be the effects on terrain of an atomic bomb on a Sahelian or Saharan grassland or desert?
So, I'm coming up with a world in which, after a nuclear war in Africa, there is a bunker in the country of Chad. The landscape has been affected by over 50 atomic bombs. The main characters leave the ...
14
votes
7answers
3k views
Reasons for a very small but very high mountain range in an area with no plate boundaries?
One of the cities in my world, known as Kerkapeze, is situated in a location I just realized I'd have to be very creative to justify: it lies on a narrow plateau between two high but very small ...
11
votes
3answers
3k views
Would it be Possible to Extract Helium in a World Without Fossil Fuels?
I understand that on Earth, we mainly get our helium from natural gas deposits, which traps helium atoms generated from radioactive decay. Would this process still work on a terrestrial planet without ...
6
votes
2answers
404 views
What would happen on the surface of a terrestrial planet captured by a gas giant?
So, from what I've read of Porter & Grundy (2011), most gas giant planets orbiting within their star's habitable zones are thought to have migrated there from further out in the solar system, with ...
1
vote
0answers
92 views
Geology and climate etc on a earth size habitable moon of a gas giant [closed]
A bit of background:
I'm in the beginning stages of creating a habitable moon orbiting a gas giant. The conditions I have so far for this are:
The moon itself is more or less Earth-size, and the gas ...
3
votes
1answer
171 views
Mountain heights - theoretical limits
I have a country bounded on three sides by fold mountains. Due to a magical plot device, the force acting to drive the upward motion of the mountains persists indefinitely, acting on the plates ...
6
votes
1answer
81 views
Would an asteroid colliding with a terrestrial planet result in the creation of extensive caves nearby the crater?
I just did some research on the Chicxulub crater in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, which is the crater from the asteroid responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Yucatán itself does have ...
6
votes
1answer
237 views
Can a fast planetary rotation create a planet with an equatorial continent, preferably with very high mountains and two polar oceans?
I’m trying to create a planet with two small polar oceans with equatorial supercontinent in the middle. The land is in turn divided in two by high mountains that act as barrier and a source of water ...
14
votes
5answers
1k views
What factors influence what kind of shoreline you get?
I'm writing about a group of colonists on an Earthlike world, where I want to get the geography realistically correct, and it occurs to me that one thing I have not really seen discussed is the nature ...
6
votes
2answers
122 views
Would it be possible to have predictable, repeating volcanic eruptions on an inhabited island?
So, suppose we have a very large island. Exactly how big it is doesn't matter too much, but it must be big enough to support a small country.
This is a volcanic island, and the volcanoes on this ...
2
votes
3answers
248 views
How to dry an ocean planet and NOT turn it into a salty desert?
So, Here's the scenario:
we start with an ocean planet, with minimal dry land. The planet stays this way for at least 400 million years. (Notably, life evolves during this time period.) Then, a magic ...
4
votes
4answers
240 views
What would an until-recently waterworld look like?
So, suppose a world that, for most of its biological history, was a water world, with minimal dry land. Starting from the Cambrian Explosion analogue, the world stays like this for roughly 460 million ...
5
votes
4answers
425 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
692 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
votes
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
344 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 ...