Criticize my map

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sam
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Criticize my map

Post by sam »

This is a rough sketch of a world map for a new conworld I'm working on. It includes only large landmasses and the water between them. Tectonically speaking, is there anything crazy here that wouldn't actually happen? Does anyone see anything that would cause some bizarre climate somewhere? Do these shapes imply anything about mountains or inland water? How does it look aesthetically?
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zompist
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Re: Criticize my map

Post by zompist »

My main advice would be to use your map to texture a ball in a 3-D mapping program, and see what it looks like on a sphere. Things can look very different when they're in proper perspective. E.g. you've evidently got the eastern and western regions separated by a long-ago tectonic event— but you've drawn it on a rectilinear map, and it's not going to look right on the globe.

(Rifts expand pretty evenly, so far as I know. You've got the northern and southern parts of the rift spreading much slower than the at the equator; you probably didn't realize this because you were drawing in a rectangle.)

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Re: Criticize my map

Post by sam »

How's this? I looked at it on a globe and think I've made the necessary adjustments. This is the view of the other side of the planet because I'm toying with the idea of adding another continent to the ocean that's now in the middle, but the divergent boundary is still where it was, in the ocean that's now split up by this projection. Anything else jump out at anyone? Impossibilities? Something that would to make further development difficult? Thoughts on a new landmass? I was thinking something small in the northern hemisphere. What do you all think about that?
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HandsomeRob
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Re: Criticize my map

Post by HandsomeRob »

Zomp:
Because plate tectonics occurs on a spherical surface, rifts do not expand evenly. Any two plates will rotate with respect to one another around a single point, called the "Pole of Rotation". The closer the rift is to this pole, the slower the rifting will be. One example is the famous Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is the rifting boundary between the North American and Eurasian plates. The pole of rotation between those two plates is just off the coast of Siberia, near the Lena River delta. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge approaches within a short distance of this pole. Just off the coast of Siberia, there is almost no relative motion at all between the two plates. Across the Arctic Ocean, there is minimal rifting, increasing as you go south through the North Atlantic Ocean. Where the boundary is farthest from the pole of rotation, in the South Atlantic Ocean, the amount of rifting is at its maximum, almost twice as much (in mm/year) as in the North Atlantic.

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Re: Criticize my map

Post by StrangerCoug »

The north central part of the ocean seems like a good place to stick a small continent to me if you're looking for a spot to put another one, though I think it would be more plausible to stick it some distance off-center to the west. I'm not experienced in making good maps, though, so take my advice with a grain of salt.
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Re: Criticize my map

Post by sam »

Rob, does that mean the newer map is rifting too fast on the north and south?

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Re: Criticize my map

Post by HandsomeRob »

No, Sam. All that we are shown is coastlines. Rifting separates continents at the continental shelf, so the position of the coastline, while relevant, is not of primary importance. Also, depending on the position of the pole of rotation w/r/t to the plate boundary, the variance in rate from end to end of the spreading ridge could very well be minimal.

Don't worry so much about tectonics. It's a nice framework, but there's so much margin for error that almost any distribution/layout of continent shapes can be explained in multiple ways if all we are given is coastlines.

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Re: Criticize my map

Post by sam »

Well, at some point I plan on adding things like elevation, climates, etc. For what would it be important to know about the tectonics?

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Re: Criticize my map

Post by Zaarin »

sam wrote:Well, at some point I plan on adding things like elevation, climates, etc. For what would it be important to know about the tectonics?
It would be most useful for knowing where to put mountains since mountains usually form on plate boundaries and the taller mountains will usually be on the plate's leading edge. That being said, there are exceptions with mountains being formed away from plate boundaries (usually from volcanism).
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Re: Criticize my map

Post by CatDoom »

Plus you can always have really ancient mountain ranges like the Urals right in the middle of a plate. They'll tend not to be very high, but can be extremely rich in exploitable mineral resources.

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Re: Criticize my map

Post by Hydroeccentricity »

CatDoom wrote:Plus you can always have really ancient mountain ranges like the Urals right in the middle of a plate. They'll tend not to be very high, but can be extremely rich in exploitable mineral resources.
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Re: Criticize my map

Post by Salmoneus »

HandsomeRob wrote:Zomp:
Because plate tectonics occurs on a spherical surface, rifts do not expand evenly. Any two plates will rotate with respect to one another around a single point, called the "Pole of Rotation". The closer the rift is to this pole, the slower the rifting will be. One example is the famous Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is the rifting boundary between the North American and Eurasian plates. The pole of rotation between those two plates is just off the coast of Siberia, near the Lena River delta. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge approaches within a short distance of this pole. Just off the coast of Siberia, there is almost no relative motion at all between the two plates. Across the Arctic Ocean, there is minimal rifting, increasing as you go south through the North Atlantic Ocean. Where the boundary is farthest from the pole of rotation, in the South Atlantic Ocean, the amount of rifting is at its maximum, almost twice as much (in mm/year) as in the North Atlantic.
Ooh, I didn't know that! Thanks!
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Re: Criticize my map

Post by sam »

Alright, here is the up-to-date version, complete with some mountains and a river on one of the continents. How is it looking now? These areas make sense for mountains, correct? How does the river look? Anything you like/don't like regarding the coastlines?
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