Project Progress
I didn't finish on time. I get to finish during the summer.
I was encouraged to make a great base off which to write a great book/series, instead of writing a mediocre story. Plus, the human/nature interaction piece of my portfolio was lacking.
Therefore I am world-building! I have been keeping that geography book close.
I've got the "current location" of all the landmasses, and the latitudes of it. I'm assuming many similar things to simplify the task; similar distance from sun, similar year length, single moon of similar size, similar length of day and tilt of the planet.
From there I got a basic outline of primary wind currents, and how they would vary between the two halves of the year. Ocean currents like to follow air currents.
And from these points, I have a basic outlining of 13 primary environments based on temperature and precipitation patterns.
Current task: Landmasses.
I'm learning about continental drift for the sake of knowing what's where.
Mountains are formed from two primary sources: volcanic activity, or landmasses pressing together. Most volcanic activity comes from oceanic plates sinking under the continental plates they meet, and melting as they go down. That melted material then rises some distance into the continental plate, and rises as volcanoes.
Taller, sharper mountains are recent; formed in the last super-continental stage. These are the ones of current or recent plate activity. The Rockies, the Himalayas, the Andes... etc.
Older, dull, hilly mountains are older; formed in one of the two or three super-continental stages prior. The forces that built them have ended, and time has had hundreds of millions of years to dull them down. Erosion from wind and precipitation have rounded them out. Sharp valleys still around likely exist due to rivers or glacial activity, and may well be on-going. The surface types of rock are different from those in the newer mountains; these have been ground down to the older, tougher base levels of rock. Different types of rock mean people will try to do different things with the materials.
Plus, rock types and precipitation are the two main causes of what kinds of soil are present.
The soil type, precipitation patterns, and the usual temperatures determine the climates and thus what flora and fauna are present.
Only after that point does human activity change what is present.
I was encouraged to make a great base off which to write a great book/series, instead of writing a mediocre story. Plus, the human/nature interaction piece of my portfolio was lacking.
Therefore I am world-building! I have been keeping that geography book close.
I've got the "current location" of all the landmasses, and the latitudes of it. I'm assuming many similar things to simplify the task; similar distance from sun, similar year length, single moon of similar size, similar length of day and tilt of the planet.
From there I got a basic outline of primary wind currents, and how they would vary between the two halves of the year. Ocean currents like to follow air currents.
And from these points, I have a basic outlining of 13 primary environments based on temperature and precipitation patterns.
Current task: Landmasses.
I'm learning about continental drift for the sake of knowing what's where.
Mountains are formed from two primary sources: volcanic activity, or landmasses pressing together. Most volcanic activity comes from oceanic plates sinking under the continental plates they meet, and melting as they go down. That melted material then rises some distance into the continental plate, and rises as volcanoes.
Taller, sharper mountains are recent; formed in the last super-continental stage. These are the ones of current or recent plate activity. The Rockies, the Himalayas, the Andes... etc.
Older, dull, hilly mountains are older; formed in one of the two or three super-continental stages prior. The forces that built them have ended, and time has had hundreds of millions of years to dull them down. Erosion from wind and precipitation have rounded them out. Sharp valleys still around likely exist due to rivers or glacial activity, and may well be on-going. The surface types of rock are different from those in the newer mountains; these have been ground down to the older, tougher base levels of rock. Different types of rock mean people will try to do different things with the materials.
Plus, rock types and precipitation are the two main causes of what kinds of soil are present.
The soil type, precipitation patterns, and the usual temperatures determine the climates and thus what flora and fauna are present.
Only after that point does human activity change what is present.