This looks great so far! I'm at about this stage with my world and it's gratifying to finally get to the elevation map stage after doing all the geology.
It is of course a little hard to judge things without seeing the tectonic plate maps, but I like that I can see a number of clear tectonic features just by looking at the map. Since you asked though, a few (mostly nitpicky) comments from what I see here:
• Continental volcanic arcs like what you have on the west coasts of both continents here tend to rise quite precipitously from the coast, rather than a more gentle rise like what you have here. The Cascades on the west coast of the US are an exception, but that's because of the accretion of so many terranes in that area and the somewhat odd Laramide Orogeny- in which case I'd expect the mountains to be much broader rather than long and narrow like what you've got here. In general, it's quite rare to see a mountain range on earth that rises gently on both sides, with the highest point precisely in the middle. I'd move the highest bits closer to the coast, and maybe make it more of a plateau like the Andes. You could also add some accretionary wedges on the coast like the California or Chilean coastal ranges if you want a little more of an offset- these would presumably be separated from the main part of the mountains by foreland basins. FWIW I find the mountains on the west coast of Anlak to be much more plausible-looking than those on Kilanna.
• I find the long, thin mountain range on a peninsula in northeastern Kilanna quite... odd and there's not really anything like it on Earth. Assuming it's forming from an active subduction zone, you'd want the mountains to either be lower and perhaps separated into different islands (like Indonesia or Japan), or higher and will a filled-in sedimentary basin to the north rather than an inland sea as you have now. I have a similar critique of the long peninsula on the northwestern end of the central continent.
• Speaking of inland seas, the coastlines of the passive margins on both continents seem much more irregular than anywhere on earth- in areas like that you usually expect a large area of low-lying land and a relatively smooth coastline, perhaps broken up by estuaries as on the east coast of the US. Once again I find what you have on Anlak looks much more natural than Kilanna. Unless this is a world that's recently seen precipitous sea level rise? Some of the indents do remind me a little of flooded basins.
• I do love me a nice indented coastline, but assuming geography works on this world as it does on Earth, I'd actually expect some more areas where the coastline is a little more "boring". Africa, South America, and Australia are examples of continents that have fairly smooth coastlines with very little indentation (there are exceptions of course).
Again, overall this looks great! And feel to disregard any or all of my comments here, it looks like you've got a good start so far. Keep up the good work!
Reply With Quote
