Plate tectonics for new world map. Advice and comments welcome.

[lishamatish]

Hello

I'm starting out with my first high detail world mapping project. It started with a few sketches that turned into a full colour piece of art that was although pretty, highly inaccurate.

I get a bit obsessed with detail and trying to make what I do as accurate as possible and therefore I have gone back to the beginning and started with my tectonic plates as you can see below.

I just wanted to get any feedback that anyone would be willing to offer before I continue with my other maps ( elevation, sea currents, wind currents and other weather maps ).

Are my plates acceptable in general or do I need to go back to the drawing board? Are there any places that are obviously really inaccurate or that don't make sense scientifically?

LatreiaMapEqui.png

The planet's circumference is around 40,000km ( Earth size ). The Longitude lines are 10deg apart. The tectonic arrows attempt to show converging ( dark blue fill ), diverging ( light blue fill ) and transform ( clear fill ). The elevation is incremented in 1000km from the dark green which is sea level.

Any comments at all are highly appreciated

Lisha

[Naima]

Nice but I am pretty sure that Pixie would find not correct to have so many inlands and fjords on all coasts especially those toward the oceanic dorsals.

[lishamatish]

Nice but I am pretty sure that Pixie would find not correct to have so many inlands and fjords on all coasts especially those toward the oceanic dorsals.

Thank you

I'll be sure to work on that. I get a bit carried away trying to make my coastlines interesting. I've been using Pixie's tutorials which are very helpful.

Thank you for your comments.

[Naima]

My very persinal approach was to imagine a large surface of honey like material and put over some caramelized surface , then imagine heating in sime areas and imagine those move and collide.

[lishamatish]

My very persinal approach was to imagine a large surface of honey like material and put over some caramelized surface , then imagine heating in sime areas and imagine those move and collide.

That's a really interesting visualisation

[castlewrks]

Are the plate tectonics important to some aspect of your creation? Are they part of your world culture? Do creatures live long enough where these come into play with regard to their lives and style of living? What level of technology does the population have on your world? Certainly, knowledge of this type of world structure wouldn't exist in a medieval/fantasy style culture and certainly not at the level where there would be names for the plates.

If you are going to use this level of mapping, get rid of the oceans. Plate tectonics occur throughout the surface of the world. You seem to be mixing your world map, those levels above sea level, with an abstract that is immaterial to the art and final product.

Enlighten us as to why this level of detail is important to your world.

[Azélor]

Are the plate tectonics important to some aspect of your creation? Are they part of your world culture? Do creatures live long enough where these come into play with regard to their lives and style of living? What level of technology does the population have on your world? Certainly, knowledge of this type of world structure wouldn't exist in a medieval/fantasy style culture and certainly not at the level where there would be names for the plates.

If you are going to use this level of mapping, get rid of the oceans. Plate tectonics occur throughout the surface of the world. You seem to be mixing your world map, those levels above sea level, with an abstract that is immaterial to the art and final product.

Enlighten us as to why this level of detail is important to your world.

He is trying to make a realistic looking map, or he just want his world to be believable. To place mountains, it's useful to have a basic knowledge of the tectonic plates.


And I do not see anything wrong with this map. It look pretty good, to me.

[waldronate]

I suggest that you look at the polar aspect of your maps. Things are going in some pretty strange directions there.
Untitled-2.gif

[Azélor]

Maybe the plates are spinning. That is possible ?

[lishamatish]

Are the plate tectonics important to some aspect of your creation? Are they part of your world culture? Do creatures live long enough where these come into play with regard to their lives and style of living? What level of technology does the population have on your world? Certainly, knowledge of this type of world structure wouldn't exist in a medieval/fantasy style culture and certainly not at the level where there would be names for the plates.

If you are going to use this level of mapping, get rid of the oceans. Plate tectonics occur throughout the surface of the world. You seem to be mixing your world map, those levels above sea level, with an abstract that is immaterial to the art and final product.

Enlighten us as to why this level of detail is important to your world.

At this point I am not mapping for any final product such as a piece of art or a work of fiction. I am purely mapping this world because I like to create fantasy realities. Therefore it is not relevant whether any cultures on this world are aware of plate tectonics as far as I am concerned, I am god and I know everything about this world because I created it.

The reason that I am starting at the plate tectonic level is because I want to map realistic continents and oceans. I must know how the underlying structure works in order to place land masses and ocean features accurately, I don't see this as mixing maps. This isn't a piece of artwork this is purely for me to start structuring the underlying layers of my world.

I suggest that you look at the polar aspect of your maps. Things are going in some pretty strange directions there.

I have recently starting using g.plates to try and place some Euler poles for the movement of the plates as they will be moving around a sphere. As Azelor mentioned the 'Free' plate for example does appear to be spinning but I'm not entirely sure that this is wrong? As far as I can see with Earth's plate movement they all appear to be moving in different directions.
I did struggle with understanding how you should choose the location for the Euler pole but I think I probably just need to study more.

He is trying to make a realistic looking map, or he just want his world to be believable. To place mountains, it's useful to have a basic knowledge of the tectonic plates.


And I do not see anything wrong with this map. It look pretty good, to me.

Thank you And yes, I am mostly interested in the overwhelming detail required in constructing a fictional world, I have no artistic goals at the present time.