WIP: unnamed Earh-like planet

[Akubra]

Hey groovey, I feared that the numbers might be too cryptic. OK, here's the explanation:

• In order of area, the islands you copied are the 2nd and 3rd largest on Earth (if we take Greenland as the largest)
• The 2nd largest is divided between 2 independent countries (Indonesia and Papua New Guinea), and the 3rd largest is divided between 3 independent countries (Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei)

The islands are New Guinea and Borneo. Correct?

Cheers - Akubra

[EDIT] But now that I'm looking again, I also see Sumatra and Java. So you have copied 4 islands and not 2!...

[EDIT2] No, I'm sorry, Sumatra and Java were on a previous map, not on the latest...

[Pixie]

Pretty good, I think. Your "excess of red" comes from the polar plates (in my opinion) - try projecting those two using G.Projector and a stereographic projection. You'll see how awkward are their borders. Also, plate 5 is weird as it is now, but if you fix the poles, it might be fixed as well without effort.

[groovey]

@Akubra! Correct! And I don't even remember about having plagiarized two more even on previous versions! Since one doesn't have to worry about copyrights and and such when it comes from stealing Earth's shapes... I'll check the maps again and see if I spot the islands I didn't even remember. Oh my, the map feels a bit cheap now... I basically had to fill the map with little land masses because it was too empty, so I opted for an easy solution and just got things from Earth without any editing to make it less obvious, wish I had put more thought on in, but now I'm not going back to work on land masses shapes again, I need to keep going.

@Pixie, yes, the poles have been nagging me for a few days, since I checked them on G Projector, and I wasn't sure what to do with them because it gets confusing on the edges, but I'll have a look and see if I can figure out something without changing much, but it might be hard, specially since on the north pole I'd like to keep the subduction area on the west, but well.
02. Tectonics (03-06-14)V3 NP.jpg02. Tectonics (03-06-14)V3 SP.jpg

[Pixie]

I don't think you can fix them without changes in the other plates or changes in the land masses. I mean, the south pole is fixable if the land mass is close to plates 10 and 11 and "eating up" that oceanic crust. That would make the area where it borders plate 5 and 6 the most active in terms of crust making. As for the north pole, make it move away from the triple junction with plate 1 and 2, with an euler pole somewhere within pole 2 and you get exactly what you want. You will even get a lot of subduction of plate 5 (and that could be an area with old submerged continental crust and some island arc), which agrees with its active divergent boundary being close to the south pole .

There's one principle you need to keep in mind (this one is very important): A boundary that "generates" a lot of new crust on one its plates is also generating a lot of crust on the other one - meaning, strong divergent areas have plates moving in opposite directions.

[groovey]

@Pixie: awkward, I just came to post my latest fix and see if it worked, could you take a look at it and tell me if it works or it would be better with what you suggest on the last post?

You were even more right than I first thought when I read your "second post ago", nº5 rotation didn't match on both sides, and the poles needed matching borders on the sides and some reconsideration (restored nº15 to its previous version, rotating anti clockwise). Did I get it eight this time?

02. Tectonics (10-06-14).jpg02. Tectonics (10-06-14) (with E Poles).jpg

My fear now is, don't I have more subduction than crust creation now?

EDIT: forgot the poles, I know the rotation colors in the poles don't match from side to side, but you get the idea looking at the boundaries colours, I hope.
02. Tectonics (10-06-14)NP.jpg02. Tectonics (10-06-14)SP.jpg

It's ok if I've to keep working on it a bit more, I do a lot of deep breathing each time I think about it and do other things while I wait for feedback, but yeah, I'm sorry for you guys, you must be so extremely bored with my tectonic map by now, don't blame ya.

EDIT 2: oh boy, re-reading your last post, I didn't have in mind that last principle at all, sadly. Now I fear looking back at my map and see how much I messed up in that aspect.

EDIT 3: ok I looked, it's horrible and I'm scared to touch anything because altering one plate alters the other, etc, and I have no idea of how to make everything match with that principle and the others unless I start form the beginning all over again, which would be terrible considering all the time we've spent trying to make this one work.

[Pixie]

EDIT 3: ok I looked, it's horrible and I'm scared to touch anything because altering one plate alters the other, etc, and I have no idea of how to make everything match with that principle and the others unless I start form the beginning all over again, which would be terrible considering all the time we've spent trying to make this one work.

Don't panic
Sometimes, it's just a matter of changing location of plate boundaries, or adding micro-plates to "absorb" the mess-up. It does take a lot of time "staring" at it to see the right movement, sometimes, but it's always workable.
And you've got nice spreading areas in your map - the junction between plates 1 and 2 and between the southpolar and plate 5.

[groovey]

Sigh. I think I need a little break from the map to get over this. Ugh, I thought I was so close... just like the last time, and just like then I fell into the Mariana's Trench again. Need to make my way to the surface once more before I have the strength to fix all that's wrong with the tectonic map. Then (might be a week, a month, or who knows, whenever I get over it) I think I'll try to start all over again keeping in mind all Pixie has taught me.

So Pixie, Akubra and ascanius (since our projects are a bit on the same mindset, not trying to leave anyone else out), I hope you keep going with your maps so I least I can get some consolation with seeing you all succeed. I'll be keeping an eye on them.

[Akubra]

Hey groovey, if it's any consolation, I feel the same about what I'm doing right now (winds and climate map). It feels like I'm on a rudderless ship going in all directions at once. Give it some time, take that break, and when you're ready take a look at your project from a distance. It'll help seeing a solution you don't yet see at this time. I'm sure you'll see light again at the end of the "tectonic tunnel"!

Cheers - Akubra

[ascanius]

Hey groovey. However bad you think it is, it isn't. I plugged your map into gplates and fiddled around a little. I tried to match your original movements as closely as possible and I only did your continents and so far I can easily match almost all your plate boundaries with gplates. The only thing I changed without hesitation are the Euler poles, I've noticed the poles are rarely on the actual plate but two plates over or in some cases on the horizon. Like the poles for 1 and 8 I put in plate 12 to create an even spreading of the two plates. So far I think I could map out your map in gplates and match the original pretty closely.

Good luck

[groovey]

Thanks for the encouragement fellas.

Ascanius, how very interesting, thanks for sharing than info about my map in Gplates, surprised to hear it held up so decently.

Though I am taking a break from working on the actual map, in the back of my mind I'm subtly thinking of ways to fix the mess and still debating if I should try to make the current version work making some changes in Euler Poles, boundaries and rotation and adding microplates as Pixie suggested, or starting a new version loosely based on the current one. We'll see.