Greetings,
I've been intrigued for the past few weeks by how tectonic plates can facilitate and improve our world-building. Really, these plates control a lot on earth: mountain ranges, ocean depths, earthquakes, tsunamis, continental formation, and more.

I decided the other day to map out a basic map of plates for the planet of Enderion; something I've neglected to do thus far. It was fairly easy; as a general rule I kept to continent borders. I also kept in mind mountain ranges, but we will touch on that soon.

Anyways, here is what I came up with:

For some comparison, here is a map of Earth's plates:


This opens up some interesting possibilities. For one, I now know which areas are most susceptible to earthquakes. I can make Tarbiyaan and Nuvirana suffer from frequent earthquakes; something that Culvinis or Rojus wouldn't have a problem with.

Also, I can better define mountain ranges, as these are usually defined by the overlap of tectonic plates. I now have a reason for the mountainous border between Ut-Ketpar and North Ketpar, and have a rough framework for where to place mountain ranges.

You can see on the Earth map that tectonic plates don't necessarily mean Earthquakes. The Indian subcontinent is on a plate by itself, but that is what forms the Himalaya mountains. In fact, most major mountain ranges on the earth are directly next to tectonic plates.

But most exciting: I discovered a new continent with tectonic plates! If you look at the map of my world, there is an area in the Northeast called the 'uncharted lands' But by mapping a tectonic plate here, I discovered that the plate follows a very specific line; very likely in correlation to an undiscovered continent.

Lastly, plates can give you possible storylines. If you look on my map, the Southern Ocean Plate, which the continent of Petathora is on, is simply massive. Simply massive. Doesn't this provide the possibility of a storyline when this plate breaks, or snaps, causing a massive earthquake or something of the sort? Think of the possibilities!

Anyways, that is all I have to say. I guess I just sort of wanted to show how much you can get out of a few extra lines on your map Have you used tectonic plates in your worldbuilding?

eru

I haven't so far, but that's a good idea.

Tectonic plates may be the first step for me when I get around to trying to map Rhoive. I just have to stop being intimidated and try it.

Thanks for showing us your example. It looks really good.

Tectonic plates are fascinating, aren't they? I love providing believable reasons for geological features! I haven't mapped out tectonic plates for my world yet, but I have taken them into consideration somewhat. Don't be surprised if you find a map of them in Eshteka, Planet of Mystery soon.

This is what makes worlds believable. (as you can see I finally managed to get to this thread *sheepish grin*)

I am going to have to do this once I have a map (which I will make once I have more than just 2 islands on Murel )

Great! I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Awesome idea! I'll put that on the list of things to add to my cartographical project for Tolondra!

Great, Sam! Glad that someone was inspired by it

eru

In order to correlate your plates with things like earthquakes and mountain ranges, I suggest defining which direction they're moving and where sort of boundaries they create when they collide. For example, a subduction zone produces volcanic mountains and earthquakes (think the Pacific Northwest or Hawaii) while a continental collision creates non-volcanic and often larger mountains like the Himalayas, which are not usually associated with earthquakes. The larger and more regular earthquakes in California are from a transform fault. So, which direction those plates are traveling will have a strong effect on your geography.

I obviously had too much fun in Earth Science class playing with this stuff, but I live on a subduction zone with all its various hazards. I already kept trying to pick which directions yours would go naturally, Eru, and how.

That's a great idea. I'll have to look up about tectonic plates. By the way, what did you use to make your map? It's really good!

Ooo. This is cool. I'll have to try this once I do a bit of research on tectonic plates.

- Terra

@Ardyth: I trust you had fun? Good info, thanks

@Laura Elizabeth: I use Photoshop CS3

@TerraRandom: I came across a globe with tectonic plates on it and that piqued my interest

eru