Questions tagged [geology]
For questions about rocks, minerals and the physical structure and substance of the world.
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questions
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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
140 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 ...
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2answers
313 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
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2answers
154 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 ...
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4answers
95 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
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2answers
107 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
89 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
92 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 ...
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6answers
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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
364 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
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6answers
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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 ...
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6answers
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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
102 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
808 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
126 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
68 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 ...
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7answers
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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 ...
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3answers
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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
388 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
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0answers
71 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
165 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
80 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
208 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
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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
110 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
222 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
229 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
418 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
634 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
306 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 ...
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1answer
91 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
320 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
16 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 ...
5
votes
2answers
140 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 ...
4
votes
1answer
136 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
378 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
163 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
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2answers
98 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
83 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
87 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
115 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
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0answers
37 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
74 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
601 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
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3answers
113 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
84 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
1k 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
194 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?
