Rules of thumb in global geography building

[Ptakub]

I don't think it's a tutorial, so I'll place it here. I hope I won't make any bigger mistakes in grammar and vocabulary, but if I do, please correct me.

These rules aren't really universal, they have their exceptions in reality and are applicable only in really big scale - the smaller the land, the less rules there really are. That's because there are some phenomenons that occur rather in short range, so you have bigger arsenal of possible reasons of anything there. I you're mapping continent of the size of Europe - you don't really have to look here, 'cause just a little look at the real Europe will convince you that it's just too complex. Not even talking about possible worlds where normal tectonics just don't apply or you want some magic or gods to be in play. I assume we're talking about a globe which motion is similar to the Earth's one.

And of course these are just my thoughts, rules I personally use - and I'm not a geologist. So I look forward to some discussion. And, of course, I hope it will help some of you, people.

1. Start continents as triangles.
Basic landmass fits into a shape of a (largely distorted) triangle. One of its edges will be the front of the plate, where it folds, creating a large and high mountain range. Behind those mountains the terrain gradually descends into plateaus, then lowlands, lakes and seas. But at the very end, on the back of the continent will be second major mountain range, but notably smaller and lower - being the relic of the past movement and collisions in the other direction.

2. In moutains closed curves and branches are not good
This applies to mountains again. In a scale where erosion applies, it's nothing bad, but when talking about a really big areas, moutains form just single lines, and don't circle around areas.

3. Glaciers are your friends
Wherever you have climate cold enough to say "there was a glacier here", you can do anything. Glaciers create lakes, big hills (which can even fit in the role of mountain ranges), anything you want and are unpredictable enough for you to get rid of any "how can it be" questions. Baltic sea started as a river. So as long as you don't need your randomly placed mountains to be really high, glacial landforms will resolve any problem.

4. Currents circle in eights
In the zones from equator to tropics, eastern side of continent is more humid, while the western coast is drier, with larger area of deserts. Because in these zones you have warm currents at the western side of the ocean and cold on the eastern.
In the zones from tropic to the pole, eastern side of continent is colder, while the eastern coast is warmer, having larger area of forests etc. Because in these zones you have cold currents at the western side of the ocean and warm on the eastern.
(One not obvious rule about currents: the cold one forms desert, not the warm one. Warm currents make water evaporate, the steam goes into the land as the clouds and give rain. The cold ones stop this and make land dry. Have it in mind if you really want to work with currents.)

5. The more water you have, the more jagged coastlines will be
In drier zones zones the coastline is rather mild and gently curved. Around the equator the rivers will make it rough. Near the poles - glaciers will make it rough. Wherever you should really take erosion into account, you should stop to think about coastline as a line. Don't draw a line. Paint a mass, which has some basic shape, then erase more and more with a small virtual rubber, simulating the erosion, creating complicated gulfs which form the fjords.

[Chick]

Hello Ptakub! These are some good ideas. Perhaps you would like to add them to this thread on the subject:

The Most Common Reality Errors: http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=30156

[Ptakub]

Good idea. I'll incorporate it there, then I'll remove my threat (no need for this redundancy). I just want to read your thread beforehand, so probably I'll do it tomorrow.