Questions tagged [geology]
For questions about rocks, minerals and the physical structure and substance of the world.
13
votes
4answers
313 views
Can a liquid sand ocean exist naturally?
I'm talking about this sort of liquid sand:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My4RA5I0FKs
"Desert-as-sea-analog" is present in many media, but often they lean heavily into fantasy, and it seems not ...
6
votes
1answer
1k views
Can rocky hills similar to the Scottish highlands be located next to a bog?
I've written about these rocky hills with short grass, gravel, shrubs, and big boulders. At the bottom of one of the hills is a big bog. Basically I've designed some buildings to be sticking out of ...
20
votes
2answers
4k views
A hang glider, sudden unexpected lift to 25,000 feet altitude, what could do this?
This is the third in a series of 5 (at this point) questions. It's not relevant to this question, but for anyone who's curious this was the first, this the second.
Conditions for this question are:
...
8
votes
3answers
209 views
Giant rock spikes sticking out of the ground
Would it be possible for huge, hundreds-of-metres-long spikes of rock, ideally slanting at an angle, to arise under natural processes?
For clarity, I mean like this:
Copyright Joe Jesus
There are ...
8
votes
2answers
119 views
What geological and chemical changes to the earth's makeup could effectively limit technological advancement
Basically, I want to freeze the technology of earth at a level reminiscent of pre-Industrial Revolution Europe. I'm trying to figure out what substance or material would have to be absent from the ...
8
votes
3answers
182 views
How to calculate the thickness of the ice-layer of a frozen ocean planet/moon?
How do I calculate the thickness of the upper ice layer on cold ocean worlds like Europa, Enceladus, Ganymede, ...? I'm asking this for a programm I'm currently writing.
Given/Known is: mass, radius, ...
2
votes
2answers
82 views
Realistic placements of Mountains and the like
This question basically boils down to this: What would be the places on a given continent where one would find mountains? I have seen maps from games, movies, board games, books etc. where it would ...
3
votes
3answers
172 views
Geological Explanation for an Unusually Temperate Northern Mountain Valley
So I'm working on a home-brew D&D setting and I have this idea for the my campaign to take place in a large isolated Valley completely surrounded by mountains. I also had the idea to have these ...
9
votes
1answer
180 views
To make a blue moon, what element does it need?
We know that Mars has a reddish color, because its ground consists of iron-based compounds. The moon is grey-whiteish because it consists mostly of silicon-based compounds.
What element should the ...
1
vote
3answers
101 views
What Else Could Create Jeffrey Linn's Coastlines BESIDES The Influence of Ice? [closed]
Who?
Unfortunately, I could not find any background information about Jeffrey Linn, but he is better known for his sea level maps. Specifically, what a particular city would look like if sea levels ...
14
votes
8answers
4k views
How to explain one side of Super Earth is smoother than the other side?
A spaceship flew across an unclassified region of the Milky Way galaxy and found a Super Earth in an unnamed system. The planet is almost twice as massive as Earth and is orbiting fairly far away ...
0
votes
5answers
110 views
How Can the Coastlines Look Similar In Spite of the Cooler Temperature
The established fact is that the shape of a planet's continental coastlines is determined by the planet's climate. Higher temperatures mean less ice, which ultimately means higher sea levels. (Case ...
7
votes
2answers
2k views
What could make a ship made of pumice seaworthy?
I'm designing the type of ships an amphibious race could use for long distance travel, like a floating house, following oceanic currents. I imagine it shaped like an iceberg, with more structure below ...
29
votes
14answers
6k views
How can I launch a projectile to hit something in orbit, using only geological structures and power sources?
As an ancient organism whom currently occupies a large chunk of a planet beneath the surface, I have a pesky issue with an invasive species. These humans have decided to colonize my home, mistaking it ...
5
votes
3answers
214 views
What kinds of minerals or compounds could radiate heat?
I'm working on an RPG in a world with some magical elements, like a type of energy (so far unnamed) inherent in animals and humans. Those with high amounts of this life energy in them are thought of ...
2
votes
3answers
884 views
Real “Alchemical Transmutation” of Some Other Mineral Into Gold? [closed]
While obviously you can't really transmute something like Lead into Gold (as far as I know), is there any real-life mineral or element that could be used to artificially create Gold from whatever its ...
9
votes
4answers
3k views
Desert planet with forests at the poles
I'm thinking up a Mars or Venus type planet where the poles (or one pole) has a forest growing out of it due to a device that is used to make the planet more habitable by creating a oxygen friendly ...
3
votes
1answer
100 views
How can I turn diamond into graphene?
The goverment of Africa decided that it would no longer tolerate the diamond mafia, so the corporation of DeBeers was hunted down and disbanded, to put it lightly. Now, all the diamond mines have been ...
3
votes
2answers
125 views
Human caused disasters creating a whole new continent
So my world needs to be destroyed because of a variety of things.
New land masses would be created and destroyed and joined till we had a single continent.
In the future, people saw the possibility ...
2
votes
2answers
142 views
What would happen to the Earth if it were suddenly transported to a completely empty void? [duplicate]
The entire planet Earth is suddenly teleported (never mind how for now) to a completely empty space. No sun, no moon, no stars or other planets. There's absolutely nothing out there and it appears ...
3
votes
4answers
142 views
Underground Atmosphere
I have a terrestrial planet that is similar to Mars in many ways, a desert-like surface, thin atmosphere, and inhospitable to large flora and fauna as we know it.
This planet has ceased tectonic ...
-1
votes
1answer
51 views
Water flow in faults [closed]
Can water flow from a point 1200 meters above sea level, through fissures or faults below sea level for a distance of 8 km and follow the fault upwards to a point 300 meters above sea level?
5
votes
1answer
205 views
How to make a bigger planet be as similar to Earth as possible
My fantasy world is slightly larger than earth so that discovery of the continents becomes harder (about 20% surface should do it). But at the same time I want to preserve most aspects to make it like ...
13
votes
13answers
4k views
What conditions would make having them sunken into the ground the predominant way of building large structures?
As he neared the outskirts of the city the canyons of multi-storey buildings lined with coffee- and tea-houses gave way to the large squat shapes of factories, storage-halls and other industry. If it ...
23
votes
10answers
3k views
Realistic geological and chemical composition of an edible planetary surface
We all at some point in our childhoods thought that the moon is made out of cheese. As such, I thought: under what circumstances can a planetary surface form in such a manner that it is edible (and ...
7
votes
6answers
767 views
A world without mountains
I'm relatively new to all this. I'm thinking of studying a little Earth sciences in the hope that it tells me but, up front, I want to know if I'm completely off. I want to know if a world with no ...
4
votes
5answers
315 views
Civilization on a diamond exoplanet?
If humans discovered a diamond exoplanet and then traveled there, how would they set up civilization on a diamond exoplanet?
Everything needs a foundation, even on low-gravity planets (below 9.8m/s^2)...
2
votes
0answers
78 views
Thousand Plate World: Effects [closed]
I have found this idea on a discussion on /r/worldbuilding. Anyway, the premise is as follows:
The planet is earth-like in terms of size and mass.
The planet has a very large amount of small, active, ...
5
votes
2answers
284 views
Thousand Plate World: Formation
I have found this idea on a discussion on /r/worldbuilding. Anyway, the premise is as follows:
The planet is earth-like in terms of size and mass.
The planet has a very large amount of small, active, ...
3
votes
2answers
91 views
Survival of Eukaryotic Life in Stagnant Oceans
I was trying to figure out the early geological/biological history of the world I'm creating, and I was wondering about the development of early life. Basically, I've envisioned a world where ...
9
votes
4answers
1k views
How long does it take for islands to form after an underwater volcanic eruption?
So, vaguely, I remember from earth science that when submarine volcanoes erupt they eventually form archipelagos. My question actually has several parts;
Starting with the first eruption to break ...
13
votes
1answer
243 views
Planet-wide vocalizations: is there a natural limit preventing it?
Premise
I recently recalled when the Chelyabinsk meteor crashed overhead in 2013. The pressure wave was immense. The infrasounds, as recorded by nuclear missile detectors, appeared to traverse the ...
9
votes
6answers
357 views
Long Term Zircon Data Storage
Question
How can Zircon be used to record data for generations of life forms?
Requirements
Must be able to store the data with little to no loss of it, for a least 541 million years
The data in the ...
3
votes
1answer
110 views
How do I figure out the size of an Earth-like world's layers and composition of elements
After getting help from the members of this site with Worldbuilding an Earth-like world around an F-Type Star, I have another question. The Planet's radius is 90% of Earth's. The Planet's rotation is ...
7
votes
2answers
234 views
What geological consequences would result from a binary planet system?
Before picking specs, I need to ensure feasibility. Only one of the planets need be Earth-like; in fact, I would prefer if the other planet were rather small and dead, like a moon. The orbits will be ...
3
votes
3answers
163 views
Can A Theia-Like Object Make Earth Richer?
Let's start with a little backstory--our planet underwent an impact-coalescence cycle only once, 4.5 billion years ago, when a Mars-sized object named Theia destroyed the infant Earth in a glancing ...
4
votes
2answers
126 views
All the Radioactive Metals Inside Earth's Core--How Would They Affect Convection?
In relation to a recent question of mine, this alternate Earth still has its core consisting of 84% iron, but the other 16% contains the greatest concentrations of all known species of heavy metals (...
6
votes
1answer
2k views
If Earth's Core had ALL Of the Heavy Metals
Back home, Earth had gone through an impact-coalesce cycle only once. Since then, its core has been 84% iron, 6% nickel and the rest being labeled by The Encyclopedia of Earth: A Complete Visual ...
21
votes
12answers
3k views
Malign Science: Counter argument for KT boundary
Premise
This is a world in which humans are blissfully unaware of their own vulnerability. Needless to say, there are many vulnerabilities to address, however, this question deals only with the ...
15
votes
2answers
236 views
A blue flamestorm blasting through a system of big yellow caves?
What I "want":
My fantasy world has lots of volcanos. Deep under the surface there is a root-like form of life predominant. It grows in big bundles and searches for important minerals, gases, fluids, ...
4
votes
3answers
234 views
Geology on low density planets
I am currently working on a piece that has a planet (about double the size of Earth). It is worth noting that this is a low density planet. Without any other factors (Earth-like atmosphere, same ...
11
votes
6answers
627 views
Ringstadt: Can my mountains be what I need them to?
When the old mining town was founded, nobody did think of this ever growing into much more than a coal-mining town. The deposits of iron-ore, aside from the already developed peat bog to the north, ...
1
vote
2answers
95 views
Ringstadt: Getting sulphur into my water
You sure lad? For some of you folks normal beer is already an acquired taste, but this... this beer definitely is. You understand that this stuff is brewed with water from the devil's choke? You know, ...
2
votes
3answers
295 views
How much electricity could an iron core moon passing over a copper deposit on a planet generate?
Assuming the moon is the same size as ours and its core is generating a magnetic field, and the copper deposits are quite large, consisting of a tectonic plate containing huge deposits of native ...
20
votes
7answers
5k views
What would it take for an island to sink and rise yearly and naturally
So I'm writing a book and need help to better explain this island that sinks, more on that in a moment as I give you the basic build of the planet...
First, its a world on a very tilted angle. the ...
20
votes
6answers
5k views
An iron rain to starve a planet
I have a generic Earth like planet, same atmospheric composition, and the same oceanic composition. The crust of this planet is predominantly silicon based but plenty of iron, nickel and copper. ...
17
votes
6answers
747 views
Ringstadt: How sensible is my topography?
Look at you all sitting here. Quite some of you have probably never ventured beyond the outskirts of this city, mayhaps not even past the wall? You've spent your whole lives in this place, but what do ...
2
votes
2answers
100 views
Fantastic gas, part 2: what would be the source of a subterranean gas that's not organic in origin?
Natural gas comes can be found in the underground, but its origin are the organic rests of a long time ago. However, my gas doesn't come from dead trees or anything like that. So what's an alternative ...
1
vote
2answers
78 views
How would we overcome the sinking problem as sediment builds up around urban areas? [closed]
As sediment builds up over the earth, it is compacted into layers of rock, which can be seen in the geological record. However, urban areas typically have good maintenance which washes away any ...
3
votes
1answer
79 views
Oceanic crust formation
I'm working on a earth-like planet with a much lower sea level (like 3000m so the mid-ocean ridge would form many islands) but is that even possible? Will the emerged ridge make some weird stuff and ...
