On a road to an elevation and climate map

**Candacis** · 07-10-2018, 08:54 AM

Lately I'm trying to continue my worldbuilding around this planet here. I started the world shape years ago in fractal and.. that was pretty much it. I rediscovered this while cleaning up in my various worldbuilding folders and decided to give it another go since I really like the shape of the landmasses.
First I wanted to make an elevation map in wilbur, but since this world's technology is already modern, I figured a cleaner look might suit it better.

Right now I want to figure out the elevations so I can then start on one of the climate tutorials. I roughly placed where the mountainous areas should be, although I'm not sure those make sense. Feedback is very welcome.

anicca_height3.png

**johnvanvliet** · 07-10-2018, 03:38 PM

the map gives me the impression of many very large volcanoes

so maybe something like the ST planet Vulcan

**Candacis** · 07-10-2018, 05:57 PM

I certainly want some volcanoes

But I'm also looking for rainforests, because this is one of my favorite biomes.

I'm wondering what the closed off western landmass will do to the climate since its blocking all of the ocean's currents.

**NadirtheFox** · 07-12-2018, 08:18 AM

Genarally speaking mountains tend to be organised into more or less linear ranges (case in point: Andes, Great Dividing Range, Ural mountains etc.) Some of them may appear shapeless at first but a closer inspection will reveal many parallel ridges (Rocky Mountains, Himalayas + Tibetan Plateau) Meanwhile your mountains seem very... Blob like

They can be vocanic plateaus, like Tibesti Mountains, but in your case that would mean a lot of active volcanoes XD In my opinion if you want to make this world feel natural you should make your mountains long and narrow rather than short and broad (you can still have volcanoes. Just not this big) Oh, when it comes to mountain placement I advise you to work out some form of tectonics for this world (since they are responsible for mountain formation) but if you don't intend to do so, then you can feel free to place them wherever you want

Sorry for bad english

**Caenwyr** · 07-12-2018, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by NadirtheFox

Genarally speaking mountains tend to be organised into more or less linear ranges (case in point: Andes, Great Dividing Range, Ural mountains etc.) Some of them may appear shapeless at first but a closer inspection will reveal many parallel ridges (Rocky Mountains, Himalayas + Tibetan Plateau) Meanwhile your mountains seem very... Blob like

They can be vocanic plateaus, like Tibesti Mountains, but in your case that would mean a lot of active volcanoes XD In my opinion if you want to make this world feel natural you should make your mountains long and narrow rather than short and broad (you can still have volcanoes. Just not this big) Oh, when it comes to mountain placement I advise you to work out some form of tectonics for this world (since they are responsible for mountain formation) but if you don't intend to do so, then you can feel free to place them wherever you want

Sorry for bad english

There's nothing wrong with your English - I'm a bit of a grammar freak usually, but I didn't stumble on anything. So be assured, you know your English! No need to go apologizing anyway though, as long as people understand you, all's good.

About your remark: I fully agree. Mountains are longitudinal structures, usually. They might run perpendicular to one another, but they never actually split or merge (although things might get weird in extreme circumstances. Take that humongous cluster of mountains in SE Asia for example: all sorts of "impossible" things happen there)

**johnvanvliet** · 07-12-2018, 11:20 AM

a bit more realistic might look like this example ( still working on it )

Screenshot_20180712_111355.png

the center range is more likely to happen

the tall plateau in the northwest can happen

PS . this was software generated heightmap

for a hand drawn map some more linear ranges are needed

**NadirtheFox** · 07-13-2018, 08:25 PM

Caenwyr:

There's nothing wrong with your English - I'm a bit of a grammar freak usually, but I didn't stumble on anything. So be assured, you know your English! No need to go apologizing anyway though, as long as people understand you, all's good.

I'm really happy to hear that

But the truth is that I still make mistakes from time to time. I usually double check (*cough* like ten times *cough*) my posts before submitting them but there is always a risk that something may slip through... So I apologise just in case XD
When it comes to moutains of SE Asia ( + eastern and central Asia to be honest...) I think it is important to remember that this mess is a result of very complex geological setting that appears to be an exception rather than rule so if you are trying to create a realistic world then you probably won't have that sort of mountain cluster (or himalayan elevations) all around it.
And speaking of geology: I was curious to see if I can work out some form of tectonic model for Candacis's world so I imported the original map to gplates and started doodling lines marking presumed locations of rifts etc. Then I edited the shapes (so the continents actually fit together when you go back in time) and voila:
anicca_tecto.jpg It is very unrefined but remember that it was nothing more than an intresting project to work on

As you can see I had to make some drastic changes to make it work but I tried to keep the appearance of the oryginal map. I marked the approximate rift and mountain placement as well as I labeled their closest earth counterparts (based on age, origin, location etc.)
Now, Candacis, I hope you don't mind that I basicly redrew your map (I think I went a little bit too far XD) I don't know if you intend to apply tectonics to your world or not. If yes then treat it as suggestion, if not then just ignore it

(But if you want to do something with this map then I can send it to you in a psd file)
Oh, and here you have the "Pangaea" stage:
image_200.00Ma.jpg

**delguidance** · 07-14-2018, 11:45 PM

Well the rain forests are just going to go around the equator more or less right? Good looking map.

**Candacis** · 07-18-2018, 04:10 PM

Wow, thanks for all your advice and help!

I figured my mountains were too blob-like. I actually started some rough tectonic shapes but I was still working out the exact forms and what it could actually mean in terms of mountains.

@NadirtheFox: This is great! I don't mind someone working on my map. In fact that was a big help. I didn't even know a program like gplates exists, but I would love to see the psd file. What meaning has the red and green color?

Your map shapes are very interesting. I had put some smaller tectonic plates into my first draft, because earth has some smaller plates, too, right? And I think, the plates don't have to fit perfectly back together since there would be a lot of wear and tear over the years?

I'll post my tectonic plate ideas soon.

**Candacis** · 07-23-2018, 05:05 AM

So, here is my version of the plates:

anicca_height_plates.png

I only roughly sketched in where the mountains would be and used Nadir's suggestions.
Would the placement make sense now?

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