Pangarap: Building a world from the ground up

[Tiluchi]

Hello all!

I've recently started a rather ambitious worldbuilding project, trying to design a planet with more or less realistic geology, climate, and biology (not to mention history, politics, and culture, but that will be a much later stage, if I ever get that far). Thankfully, this is something that's been done several times here before by much better cartographers than myself, so I have a lot of resources and references at my disposal. I, uh, also have the advantage of having done this myself once before, as I posted a very similar WIP to this one myself back in 2016. While I got quite far in my last project, to the point where I was more or less finished with climates and starting with the actual presentable map itself, there were a couple of issues overall with it that discouraged me from continuing.

With that in mind, I'm starting more or less from scratch, without so many preconcepts of what I want the world to look like, in hopes of allowing the world to build itself a little bit more rather than trying to stretch the laws of geology and climatology to fit my predetermined goals. I started with a very, very rough sketch of what I wanted the continents to look like- as few details as possible, just very basic outlines of the continents to guess their size, shape and placement:

PangarapRough.jpg

That was enough for me to plug into GPlates in order to plot the plates and movements of the continents from the breakup of "Pangaea" up to the present day. As I want Pangarap to more or less mirror Earth in terms of flora and fauna and their distribution (i.e. no macaws and hornbills being found in the same place, or corn and rice being farmed alongside each other without a very good historical reason), I wanted to be able to trace the continents from the supercontinent stage to their separation into equivalents of Gondwanaland and Laurentia, then up to the present day. Beyond that, it's very hard to get accurate plates without plotting at least a little bit of the history on GPlates and seeing what they look like on a globe.

Here's the basic position of the continents as the original supercontinent is just starting to break up:

150mya.jpg

Then about half of the way to the present day (I'm deliberately excluding times because my knowledge of geology doesn't extend to being able to accurately estimate time or rates of plate movement), with a northern and southern supercontinent. I'm assuming that those continents that are pretty close to each other are more or less connected.

image_100.00Ma.jpg

And, finally, the present-day configuration of the continents, GPlates style:

image_0.00Ma.jpg

From there, I was able to sketch the basic plate boundaries, first on GPlates on a globe and then on the full map. For anyone attempting something this in the future, I highly recommend sketching the plates in GPlates and linking them to the continents- it makes it much easier to draw them accurately in equirectangular format, as well as to view the basic movement and figure out which type of boundary you should be drawing. With a better idea of plate boundaries I was able to draw slightly more exact coastlines and add some more islands and island chains. It's not quite complete yet, as there are a lot of island chains and things like that I want to add, as well as maybe some large islands down in the south pole (I just really hate drawing things at the poles, as the distortion is hard to compensate for!).

Here are the coastlines with continent names, which are pretty much just placeholders until I can pin down history and linguistics:

PangarapLand.jpg

And the plate tectonics I have so far, based on my reconstructions in GPlates. This also isn't entirely complete; I want to add some more microplates to the island chains in southeastern Narra and southeast Talisay, as I can already tell that's going to be a morass of rifts and converging microplates similar to Southeast Asia and/or the Caribbean region on Earth. I'd also like to add some more features like aulacogens, cratons and hotspots. However, I'm hoping for some feedback before getting too far ahead of myself here, in case there's anything majorly wrong with my tectonics.

PangarapPlates.jpg

Edit: I should probably specify just in case: this follows the usual color scheme of Red = divergent margin, Green = transform boundary, Blue = subduction, with the arrows pointing in the direction of subduction, and purple = convergent boundary.

That's what I have for now! Would love feedback, questions, criticisms or commentary on general land shapes and (especially) the geology so far before I forge on.

[Charerg]

What an amazing comeback Tiluchi! I haven't quite read through your post yet, but this looks very interesting .

[kacey]

This looks really interesting so far, I really like the land shapes.

[Tiluchi]

Thanks all for the comments! I'm finally back- seems starting to design a planet at the same time as I'm trying to finish up end-of-year work isn't the best time-management decision...

I've been forging ahead with the geology; I made a couple of corrections to the overall plate tectonics, and added some microplates in the more geologically complex regions. I also added a small antarctic continent and some extra islands in the north pole. Overall I think I'm fairly happy with how the overall plate tectonics stand at the moment, which probably means there's something dreadfully inaccurate somewhere in there.

PangarapPlates.jpg

I've also slapped together a map of some other useful geological features. I went through the continental drift history in GPlates to figure out where older mountain ranges would have formed, then sketched in more or less where the older mountain ranges would be today. I also put in where the currently uplifting mountain ranges are, along the subducting and convergent plate boundaries. Also added in some former failed rifts so I know where to put some major lowlands and river valleys. and added hotspots where I can put volcanic island chains or calderas. Just for fun, I also put in where I figured cratons would be, and where more or less there would be zones of active volcanism. Perhaps not immediately relevant for mapping purposes, but good for figuring out important features and landscape types later.

PangarapGeology.jpg

Now I'm working on refining my coastlines on a larger file, so that I can start mapping the elevations and later the climates. Of course, I should be spending this weekend working, but this is such an entertaining distraction...

As always, I welcome any comments, corrections and criticisms!

[Charerg]

I had a feeling you might outpace most feedback with this one .

Anyway, now that it's weekend and I've had a bit more time to look at Pangarap and think about some scenarios, I do have some ideas about the plate tectonics. Since you're an old hand, you know the drill: it's up to you if you want to incorporate this stuff, or how much time you want to spend with refining the tectonics (as you know, getting a really good tectonics model takes at least weeks, especially if you incorporate feedback from others).

Oh, and btw, I don't take any responsibility if reading this feedback results in further diversions from work, or throwing your computer out of the window in frustration .

Right, so I had a look at the overall plate tectonic model. While the present model probably is workable if you don't pay too much consideration to the forces responsible for the movement of the plates, I do think it could be made a lot more plausible without absolutely massive modifications. Like I warned you, I'm going to plunge pretty deep in the rabbit hole here, so you might want to stop reading at this point if you feel like you've had enough of the tectonics.

Overall, I guess my main criticism is that there doesn't seem to be a plausible driving force for most of the continental breakups. For the breakup of Gondwana, most of it can be attributed to subduction by Eurasia moving southwards, but with Pangarap there's not really anything comparable to the "Tethys subduction cycle". I had a bit of a thought about this, and I came up with a different model of sorts, that results in more-or-less the same present-day continental arrangement.

This is probably easier to explain with pictures, so I made a quick GPlates model. So far, I've only modelled the movements of Malobago and Molave, to give an idea about the concept. So, essentially I thought the model would work better if Malo and Mol were to form a supercontinent over the North Pole, that way the opening ocean looks a lot more plausible (to me, anyway). Essentially the "opening of the Northern Ocean" is visualized as something akin to the opening of the Atlantic: neither Malobago nor Molave are themselves subducted, but rather they subduct crust to the south of them, which can be used to explain the movement of all the smaller pieces (Abaca, Ipil, Narra, Bakawan).

So, here's my idea about the "northern supercontinent":

200 Mya, the supercontinen is intact. As you can see, I think this fit could be achieved with relatively little fiddling with the coastlines to make them match.
200 Mya NPole.jpeg

100 Mya, the ocean opening. At this point, the Abaca-Ipil block would probably be colliding with Malobago (the Ipil block would later detach due to subduction applied by Molave, and start moving eastwards). I've also used flowlines here to depict the creation of new oceanic crust. Although the flowline only work for Malobago (blue lines), because I changed the present-day location of Molave slightly (messing up the orange flowlines, so ignore them.)
100 Mya NPole.jpeg

0 Mya:
0 Mya NPole.jpeg

As I mentioned, I changed the present-day location of Molave somewhat, in order to make the movements look more plausible. This is how it looks like in equirectangular (note that the oceanic ridge looks a bit weird in this projection, since it "walks across the North Pole").
Modified.jpeg

And compared to the original arrangement:
Original.jpeg

Right, so those are essentially my thoughts and ideas so far. Again, feel free to ignore if you want to move on from the tectonics phase. I'll try to post some more stuff later today (or maybe tomorrow), if you're up to spending more time with tectonics. Again, good to see you back in the saddle, so to speak !

[Pixie]

I wish you were at the top of your game and around, charerg, when I started working on my tectonics a few years ago - I would use you shamelessly

Now, to the thread owner... Hey Tiluchi, quite a nice restart. I wish you all the best with this project. While I am too busy now, to provide advice, I'm still lurking here, and interested in where this is going. In the meanwhile - I hope you noticed already that the majority of your land is located in high altitudes - lots of frozen ranges, tundra and conifer forests for you

[Charerg]

Right, so about that follow up to my earlier post:

So, my basic idea is that the Abaca-Ipil block detaches from the "southern supercontinent" around 200 Mya due to subduction applied by Malobago-Molave:
200 Mya.jpeg

I didn't really get a good fit for the pieces in this case (not that I tried too hard), but the basic idea should be visible: Abaca-Ipil block detaches and a new rift forms to the south of them. Then, around 100 Mya the Abaca-Ipil block collides with Malobago, and the subduction zone "jumps".

100 Mya:
100 Mya Collision.jpeg

Eventually the oceanic ridge will be subducted, and the Dao-Narra plate will start to be subducted. This results in a new rift forming to the south of Narra (around 70-80 Mya, maybe).

50 Mya:
50 Mya.jpeg

Also, Abaca and Ipil probably start rifting apart around 30-50 Mya.

The situation 20 Mya:
20 Mya.jpeg

And present:
0 Mya Orthographic.jpeg

I experimented a bit with GPlates' colouring features based on age (oceanic crust, in this case). It works really well if you can get the flowlines to work (they don't work in all situations).

Here's the equirectangular projection of the present-day map:
0 Mya II.jpeg

I also attempted to model the movements of Talisay and Bakawan, but as you can see from the flowline between Dao and Talisay, this movement isn't really plausible. Well, the Talisay flowlines (light green) are messed up because I changed the present-day rotation of Talisay, but the Dao flowlines (dark green) work as they should. And you can see from all those crisscrossing flowlines, the movements right now aren't even remotely plausible. So, this part of the model needs some further thought and refining. Anyway, the movements of Abaca-Ipil, Narra and Dao should be ok.

I guess I should also comment on the flora and fauna. In this configuration, the northern and southern supercontinents aren't connected at 200 Mya:
Layout 200 Mya.jpeg

Though the continents aren't connected, there could be some island chain between Malobago and Dao that allows movement of plants and animals. Also, they could have been connected farther back in time (say, 250-300 Mya), and I haven't been particularly careful with the timespans involved in any case (the movements of the continents relative to time are just gut instinct in this model).

Okay, that turned out to be rather substantial. Anyway, I hope this is helpful! I realise I may have ran a bit too far ahead with this, in case you want to stick to your original tectonics, and in that case feel free to ignore my ramblings .

[Tiluchi]

Charerg, that crashing sound you just heard was my computer being thrown out the window... Just kidding! I actually rather like your suggestion, as it potentially solves a couple of things I didn't like about the configuration of the northern hemisphere. I'll look at your suggested plate movements more closely when I have time and a better internet connection. I may have to add a collision with an India-style subcontinent to one of those, as I'd like to avoid an Andes-like mountain chain running down the south coasts of both continents. Plus I'd like to figure out how to preserve those volcanic island chains off of Narra and Talisay, as I rather like them. And if I can't make it work, I think I can live with things as they are as long as they technically make sense- technically correct is the best kind of correct!

And Pixie, I have noticed that, although most continents seem to be pretty squarely in the temperate zone, except perhaps that complex in the northwest, which is a little further north than I'd like. But that may be solved anyway if I go with Charerg's selections. Definitely something to think about as I start to worry about climates!

[Charerg]

And Pixie, I have noticed that, although most continents seem to be pretty squarely in the temperate zone, except perhaps that complex in the northwest, which is a little further north than I'd like. But that may be solved anyway if I go with Charerg's selections. Definitely something to think about as I start to worry about climates!

We can guesstimate that Cc/Dc (subpolar) and ET/EF (polar) mostly occur from the 60 latitude polewards.

With that in mind, with the original land arrangement we'd be looking at subpolar/polar climates covering something like this area:
Pangarap Original.png

And with the alternative arrangement I cooked up with GPlates:
Pangarap Alt.png

So, in the configuration I suggested the subpolar/polar climates would actually be a bit more widespread, though there's not a huge difference in area (although it looks like a big difference due to the projection). Btw, I noticed you had the aspect ratio a bit off. Your maps are 3200x1800, they should actually be 3200x1600 for an equirectangular projection. Though apparently both GPlates and Map to Globe seem to work even with 3200x1800 (I guess they are automatically scaled to equirectangular).

[Charerg]

Okay, I finished my "alternative tectonic model" (for the most part anyway). Pangarap has been a bit of a guinea pig for me, in trying out a few new things and honing my GPlates skills a bit . I should mention right off that I changed the location of Talisay further, in order to make the movements between Dao and Talisay actually plausible.

Here's how the final fit of the SSc (Southern Supercontinent) turned out in my suggestion:
Pangarap 200 Mya.jpeg

I added some crust to the northeast portion of Molave as well, in order to improve the fit of the NSc (Northern Supercontinent):
NSc Breakup 200 Mya.jpeg

I figure the coastlines of the NSc and SSc actually look like they could fit reasonably well. So, one might say that the two pieces were connected relatively recently, then drifted apart. And now Malobago changes direction, drifting away from Molave, and starting a new subduction zone on the northern side of the sea.

And the present-day continental arrangement (note that I didn't touch Ilang):
Pangarap III.jpeg

In order to save myself from writing a massive wall of text and spamming a gazillion pictures, I made a few GIFs of the model:

Overall:
Pangarap_Breakup.gif

NSc breakup:
NSc_Breakup.gif

SSc breakup:
SSc_Breakup.gif

I think those animations do a pretty good job in showing the movements, so I'll just leave it at that. I guess I might note that there are a few messed up flowlines again visible in the "Overall" GIF (since I gave Talisay a present-day rotation), and those should be ignored.

I may have to add a collision with an India-style subcontinent to one of those, as I'd like to avoid an Andes-like mountain chain running down the south coasts of both continents. Plus I'd like to figure out how to preserve those volcanic island chains off of Narra and Talisay, as I rather like them. And if I can't make it work, I think I can live with things as they are as long as they technically make sense- technically correct is the best kind of correct!

The island chains off Talisay should be easy to keep, since the tectonic borders of Talisay don't really change in this version. With Narra, it's a bit more tricky. There are a lot more options than just Andes, though. You could say that the subduction zone has jumped south of Narra and place volcanic arcs there, as an example.

However, personally I'd make Malobago-Narra an island arc-continent collision (like New Guinea), since the main island has an arm that sort of reminds me of it. Like this:

Pangarap Tectonics Sketch.png

The Talisay-Bakawan area (black circle) is fairly interesting and will require some shenanigans to make the plate motions there work. I do have some idea about that though (what I call the "Caribbean solution"), but more about that in a later post.


EDIT:
Actually, as it turns out those volcanic chains east of Narra make perfect sense, even in this tectonic model. I'll explain why in a later post.