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
Good info, thanks