Plate Tectonics: An Overview - Worldbuilder’s Log 9

[@boardnfool86]

"Turns out the Pacific... REAL BIG!" is an underrated quote

[@level_breaded5364]

*Pulls out tape measure* that’s quite big

[@rEdbrICkmArOOnAUbUrn4975]

wow, I NEVER knew that. What are you going to tell me next? I exist?

[@boardnfool86]

@@rEdbrICkmArOOnAUbUrn4975 you exist.

[@neveradullmoment1979]

It's shorter to fly east from Santiago, Chile to Port Morsbey, New Guinea than to fly over the Pacific.

[@Zack-fu4lo]

​@@rEdbrICkmArOOnAUbUrn4975 can you think?

[@patrickterryjr4764]

Yooo you didn’t have to go and drop the reference doc for free, damn dude, you’re too nice. I definitely think it should be paid for, if not on patreon, maybe as an e book or such? You’re putting book levels of work and money into its creation, you deserve to get something out of it.

[@Artifexian]

Enough people wanted it so I figured it was time to release it. :)

[@aquaworld689]

Hey Artifexian, thanks for the vid, don't worry about the refrence doc, it's nice to have it free but don't feel pressured into making it like that, we all gotta live of something! When it get's really complex I think it should be payed for, because it's a lot of work. The tutorial diy thing is what I get out of these videos mostly though. Glad we have another vid and I'm really exited to see where it goes!

[@dafoex]

I'm kinda with you - I don't like patreon, I don't like the apparent lack of anonymity, or the tiers, or the commitment to subscribing to maintain access - I'd rather just pay for the reference doc like I'd buy a book, with one lump sum that lets me keep the file forever. Hell, its having book levels of effort put into it, I'd happily pay book levels of money!

[@Not_Dane_Heart]

100% agree if I want the reference doc I should become patreon.

[@chiblast100x]

@@dafoex I very much agree with this. I'd personally like to see other support options than Patreon used on YT more often, though I also understand that requires a significant time and effort investment on the part of creators.

[@Dark0Storm]

@@Not_Dane_Heart alternatively it could be a one off purchase arrangement for those who can't/don't want an ongoing commitment (though I realise you could just sub and unsub on patreon, but that is both a bit of a hassle for the purchaser and a bit misleading for Artifexian if lots of people sub and unsub as it makes patreon income less predictable/reliable than it already is). Totally agree that something which takes time and has associated costs attached totally warrants asking money for it.

[@Not_Dane_Heart]

@@Dark0Storm True actually, maybe the book idea makes more sense. I agree that the main point is that Artifexian gets to profit from his brilliant work.

[@Kedai610]

"It sounds really quick but believe me, it isn't" I've been messing around with this kind of project off and on since quarantine and I can confirm. It's fun but it takes a lot of time, effort, and patience.

[@Artifexian]

Yup! However long you think the process should take … double it!

[@jasonreed7522]

I remember seeing someone compare the age of the Appalachians to the age of life and they are ancient. Using the max estimate from (500-300 million years ago) so 500 million years ago, thats in the Cambrian which is when life first evilved hard parts. They are possibly, litterally older than bones. Geologic time scales are insane. Edit: google says bones first evolved 400 million years ago. (Obviously I'm taking Google at face value but for these basic facts at this level of discussion i have some trust in it)

[@Kedai610]

@@Artifexian I did introversion twice, that may have been why!

[@EthanNeal]

11:58 That basin you are hovering over is actually not a result of orogeny, but of volcanism. The same supervolcano that resides under Yellowstone is the same one that made the Snake River Valley. The land here is ridiculously flat, and the Snake River and its tributaries don't cut very deep into the land, only about 5 feet at most. I cross the Snake on US 20 all the time between Rigby and Rexburg in the eastern end of the valley, and it's quite striking just how close the bridge is to the river.

[@Hwelhos]

_dang it spoilers_ i really shouldnt read comments while watching the vid :p

[@Bwizz245]

@@Hwelhos Why are you worried about spoilers on a tutorial video

[@Hwelhos]

@@Bwizz245 just a joke lol

[@Dragrath1]

Its actually a result of *both* because the two processes are fundamentally linked. In effect the upwelling from the East Pacific Rise doesn't just go away when it slips below a continent especially when that oceanic ridge featured an active hotspot. Instead you get Graben and Horst terrain as the crust forms into blocks that get either pushed up or down by extension forming basins and block fault mountains and sometimes in this process magma slips through the cracks and you get volcanism For context the Yellowstone hotspot is/was positioned along the ridge with the Large Igneous Province having been what we call Siletzia. If you look at seismic tomography maps of the underlying subducted slabs and the location of less dense or hotter upwelling material you can notice that the eastern edge of the basin and range Province and the Colorado plateau as well as the Yellowstone hot spot all fall along a transform offset studded bend of the East Pacific Rise. The consequence of this is the crust is getting thinned/melted from below along this boundary weakening it and the whole mass of North America which has crossed the boundary continues to get stretched out and dragged in a counter clockwise motion coinciding with the relative differential motion between the Pacific plate and North America. This naturally allows magma to intrude into the tinned crust on occasion driving episodic and usually volcanism formed this way generally only erupts once at the same spot rather than forming persistent complex vents (i.e. shield or stratovolcanoes). As a result volcanic activity in the basin and range tends to occur via volcanic fields which erupt irregularly well except where their are prominent weak points in the crust forming rift valleys or the aforementioned Yellowstone hotspot.

[@metagames.errata7777]

Been working on a huge project for D&D. Wondered if this subject was going to make a comeback soon. Watched the old videos like 5 times. Lol.

[@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim]

Same here, but this video makes me wanna remake my Continents.

[@khilorn]

Now we getting into the area of my expertise. Can't wait to see how you use geology into worldbuilding.

[@77dreimaldie0]

Would You mind explaining, as an expert, where the original supercontinent would come from?

[@AlexArthur94]

​@@77dreimaldie0 If I'm not mistaken, areas of oceanic-oceanic convergence (and therefore subduction) create volcanic island arcs and also areas where magma from the mantle may seep upward into the crust and cool, forming granite. These less dense areas of crust form the building blocks that eventually coalesce into subcontinents and then continents and supercontinents over very long timescales. Did I get that right, @Khilorn ?

[@anarchosnowflakist786]

@@AlexArthur94 does that mean that given enough time volcanic areas like new zealand will form new continents ?

[@AlexArthur94]

@@anarchosnowflakist786 Interestingly enough, New Zealand happens to be the largest exposed portion of a microcontinent called Zealandia. I think a volcanic archipelago is more likely to be incorporated into a continent than it is to expand until it becomes a continent in its own right. And it's not that archipelagos expand until they eventually are continent sized; it's that they coalesce with other archipelagos over time. Again, though, I'm not a geology expert; that's just coming from my limited knowledge.

[@Artifexian]

I wouldn't think of it like this. For our purposes, we'll just assume the supercontinent is there and not worry about where it came from. The OG supercontinent is your initial condition. It's the same like in conlanging. You make a proto-lang and evolve your language forward. You don't justify how your proto-lang came into existence.

[@theredsaurian]

Great to see Nikolai featured on the channel, phenomenal blog

[@copyplanter]

That's the author of the blog? I've looked for it to give them proper credit.

[@henry_alphonse]

The wait is over! Edgar has blessed us with another video!

[@zeldaandTwink]

Wait it's over! Edgar has cursed us with another video of finite length 🥲

[@henry_alphonse]

@@zeldaandTwink the darkness embraces us once again for God knows how long before the next episode drops

[@ijahnnakehlam5919]

@@henry_alphonse He had trouble with his computer earlier, but I think his videos have been coming out at reasonable times for the most part.

[@henry_alphonse]

@@ijahnnakehlam5919 let's hope everything is back in order now. Broken computers are a real pain.

[@admiral_hoshi3298]

You can also run the simulation backwards if you want to create a history in reverse, like if you have specific features you want to keep from an existing map. There are some problems with running it backwards, but if you are careful it should be fine.

[@jasonreed7522]

You can also just cherry pick the land formations you want and let the actual techtonic history of the planet be a mystery. (Follow the general rules and you probably won't make anything too impossible) But part of doing the tectonics retroactively is if you can just identify what rype of formation you made you can find real world analogs and research them to better describe your setting.

[@KianaWolf]

Glad to have you back. Sorry about your computer troubles.

[@Artifexian]

Thanks! Glad to have it back and in working order!

[@poland3318]

Bois wake up artfexian uploaded

[@kerianhalcyon2769]

11:51 As a resident of the Rockies I agree, their make up is really cool. Lots of smaller deserts, river basins, vast forested regions, and the tall mountains overlooking it all.

[@Aerostarm]

This is exactly what I learnt about in Geology

[@TheInterestingInformer]

LETS GOOO FREE REFERENCE DOC I love you Artefexian, liked subbed and when I’m financially independent imma support your patreon 🙏

[@skalor]

4:00 more or less ‘So the crust comes in two flavours’

[@alex-ns7jj]

Incredibly generous to release the reference docs❤❤, but I'd be fine with being updated somewhere on Reddit about the delay or something❤... It was very lonely without the new episode and i didn't know if you were okay or if something happed to you ❤😅

[@Dragrath1]

Note for anyone who wants to deal with the nitty gritty complexity (particularly because you might want to capture a setting during a more complex tectonic setting) that there as a lot of complexity missing. For example there are way more plates than those listed above as neither the Amur or Yangtze plates are part of the Eurasian plate. the Amur plate is actually rifting away from Eurasia resulting in the Baikal rift valley zone and its famous namesake rift lake. For another example while the rocky mountains have in part formed from the Laramide orogeny they are much younger and largely a product of the orogenic collapse of the Laramides over the span of around 30 million years. This process is/was quite violent with extremely high silica volcanism which has been termed the Tertiary ignimbrite flare up. (Ignimbrites are a type of volcanic rock formed when pyroclastic density currents are hot and pressurized enough to weld the ash particles together which only occurs in the most explosive and violent volcanic eruptions. This is one of the main ways Earth produces "supervolcanoes" since continental hot spots like Yellowstone aren't super common (i.e. they tend to eventually pass through the continent, the Galapagos hotspot had a phase where it did this as it moved through northern South America back in the late Mesozoic and early Cenozoic but today its on the other side etc. We have an ongoing ignimbrite flare up event in the Andes which began back in the Miocene so last 20 million years or so and is still ongoing today even if its activity went through a bit of a pause quite plausibly linked to the former Andean ice sheet. Transform boundaries can produce volcanism usually as magma manages to slip between the two plates which if sustained can lead to a transform boundary shifting into a divergent boundary. A good example of this is the Sierra Nevada microplate which is in the process of getting sheered off of North America by the difference in motion between North America moving to the southwest and the Pacific moving north. This is also connected to the clockwise rotation of western north America over the last 50 million years which is very strange and complicated. Suffice to say western North America is one of the planets more complex tectonic boundaries as you have not just any oceanic ridge subduction but the subduction of the Earth's most prodigiously active divergent plate boundary the East Pacific Rise which naturally doesn't just go away when the ridge is driven underneath the Continent. This kind of combination of magmatic upwelling and a rigid overlying continental plate is probably essential if you want to have a Grand canyon type canyon as such formations are only known in continental rift settings. For context with seismic tomography you can actually see where the active ridge is below North America and its the eastern leading edge of the Basin and Range province in effect currently eroding and twisting away part of the North American craton. Introversion shut downs of subduction probably have to do with some of the complex interactions between subduction zone rift zone complexes For example there is a new subduction zone forming between Gibraltar and the Azores along the previously passive transform fault that links to the triple junction in the Atlantic. There are a number of factors at play here for one over the last 30 million years Africa has started to rift apart causing it to shift from moving North to moving Northwest relative to Eurasia and thus causing compressional strain to build up within the eastern Atlantic. The next factor comes from how the Atlantic formed namely that the South Atlantic was formed first with the part that would become the North Atlantic becoming a failed rift while the Tethys ocean between Gondwana and Laurasia became the dominant direction of growth. While most of the Tethys has since been subducted as the rifting of Gondwana took place near the south pole this has left a chunk of the Atlantic along the former latitude of the Tethys which is much older than the surrounding crust to the North. This effectively has lead to the crust buckling and folding the older portion of the Atlantic underneath its northern counterpart and thus appears to be bisecting the Atlantic. If this subduction zone continues to develop as seems probable then the Atlantic will likely get swallowed along the former triple junction between the Azores and Gibraltar which was once the Tethys. Also this fault has played a big role in human history as its the only major source of powerful transatlantic tsunamis and megathrust type Earthquakes in the Atlantic proper with its respective combination of Length and tectonic strain. In particular it caused the great quake of Lisbon in 1755 which effectively ended the Portuguese empire and lead to the modern context of natural disasters in a scientific lens. After all the timing of the quake and its associated tsunami in the early hours of November 2nd a holy day of obligation resulted in the greatest loss of life coming from the largely stone churches not designed to handle Earthquakes of magnitude 8.5 or greater collapsing on worshippers. Kind of challenges the wrath of god interpretation when its the churches that kill the most people and set off the resulting firestorm from oil lamps across the city in the process.

[@seandarling1438]

Yayy!! Ice been rewatching some of the videos, they're so awesome and this update came and I was so excited when the notification popped up!!

[@TAP7a]

Extremely generous to release the doc, that could have remained a patron benefit without any moral compromise

[@kairon156]

I like the notion of failed rifts and it totally makes since that, that's where some rivers or maybe inland seas got their start. While I don't use any of the animation software for my maps I'm very thankful for you sharing this stuff. In the past it's helped me understand where things should be, and now I'll have a better idea of real world effects based on these movements.

[@jasonreed7522]

They can combine with other factors ro make some very interesting features. The Great Lakes of North America are famously carved and filled by Glaciers, but Lake Superior, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence River are also a failled rift that filled in somewhat and so the Glaciers could dig extra deep through the softer infill. The Mississippi is famously huge but the St. Lawrence actually carries more water (6m^3/s per year on average).

[@nathanleech4933]

I’m loving this series and wouldn’t want to see it interrupted, but i was wondering if you would ever make another WLRST, or if that was it?

[@morlath4767]

This is the section I've been waiting for. Searching how to create a fantasty world tectonic plate history was how I found your channel, and I am so excited to see the modern version of your advice with this subject.

[@jonas-by5uc]

just leaving this coment before having watched the video, The fact that you just gave access to the referenc doc because people were asking for it is unbelivably kind and it genuinly makes me consider joining the patreon. Keep up the awsome work you are a S tier channel

[@iamtheonewhoasked119]

Oh yes, that's just what I wanted to see right now

[@AndreaRupanSansei]

Beautiful video, beautiful knowledge spread here. I find this super interesting as a for-fun-worldbuilder myself. Keep it up!

[@TheTrekkie12]

Looking forward to learning more about GPlates works!

[@Hwelhos]

yeah i didnt really understand them, even with the tutorials artifexian provided, hopefully ill learn more about it this time

[@Artifexian]

It's tricky and takes time. Best is to practice lots with the software and you'll get used to it.

[@skalor]

Thanks for the new video! Always love them

[@Aerostarm]

Wooooh. New artifexian video

[@NcWK32]

The topic was so funny for me, because yesterday in my study we went trough the exact same topic.

[@davidcoquelle3081]

This made my day

[@BelegaerTheGreat]

*I think best vid yet from this series!*

[@TAP7a]

Eyyyyyyy loving the shoutout to Nikolai ❤

[@NicketyWicketyCW]

Spectacular presentation! Thank you!

[@morgan0]

re: the breaking off microcontinents, that happened at least once (i think twice, i remember reading about two, but only came across cimmeria when i refreshed my memory quickly) on the southern edge of the tethys ocean which moved north and created a wide line of mountains from spain to australia. look up alpide belt if you’re curious

[@yoti2155]

Two questions: 1) Why is it you don't mention continental-Oceanic transform boundaries? Are these not possible? 2) Is the width of a mountain range caused by orogeny relative to the size of the planet (or the landmass on which it occurs) or are the values you've given suitable for all planet sizes?

[@Jpteryx]

1: They are possible, but not very important because there won't be any obvious topographic effects. 2: I don't know if anyone's modeled geology on differently sized planets, but my instinct is that the width of an orogeny is independent of the planet size, and unaffected by the landmass as well (as long as the landmass has enough room for it)

[@IgnisDomini97]

Planet size and composition have some very complex and sometimes unintuitive effects on plate tectonics, and particularly orogeny. A lot of these orogenies should be narrower on smaller planets, not because it's scaled to the size of the planet, but because the (probable) lesser gravity means that the resting angle of bulk rock is different - it can "pile higher", as it were, so not only should it be narrower, the mountains should be taller. That is to say, the overall mass of rock involved in the orogeny should be roughly the same regardless of planet size, but orogenies should be taller and narrower because of lower gravity. And if a planet has different enough composition that, despite being significantly smaller, it has the same gravity, then, well, even weirder stuff happens. This is only talking about planets with relatively small differences in size from Earth, btw - planets that are much larger or much smaller will have radically different geological behavior in general

[@jaredwilson9979]

The San Andreas Fault is an example of a continental-oceanic transform. Everything to the west of the fault is being carried northwest by the Pacific plate. It's still above sea level because it's been "grabbed" from the North American continental crust.

[@Jpteryx]

@@IgnisDomini97 Do you have the equations available to show why mountains can be steeper on lower-gravity planets? By my understanding of physics, gravity doesn't effect the stability of a given slope: lower gravity will lower the force pulling the mass down the slope, but will also lower the static friction keeping the mass in place, so it all balances out and steepness doesn't change. For example, Olympus Mons on Mars is about equally steep as shield volcanoes on Earth.

[@IgnisDomini97]

@@Jpteryx Hmm, I went and looked back into it, and it seems that angle of repose is actually not why this happens. I'm actually getting this info directly from the author of the same blog cited in this video (I happen to converse with him on Discord regularly - I have a lot of biochem knowledge he lacks, he has a lot of geology knowledge I lack), so I might send him a message to ask why this happens.

[@AlexArthur94]

Great video! You taught me several things in this video about plate boundaries, plate patterns, and how supercontinents break apart. The only bummer is I think I might need to fix the project I was working on. XD Thanks, man! Really excited for the next video, too!

[@Hwelhos]

3:43 i always like to call it the outermost solid layer

[@lashwrithe01]

Can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this video... oh wait, since you posted last!!!! :D

[@haiperbus]

I think this is my favorite video of yours :)

[@samlolly6364]

hey i cant now but i swear i will become a patreon by next year, you deserve it man.

[@SM-cs2my]

worlbuildingpasta, my love. i discovered that site earlier this summer from another creator's worldbuilding stream and it's now one of my favorite resources

[@Artifexian]

It's great!

[@Thorunge]

Is there any percievable logic to the rifts forming in the supercontinent, or are these too involved (specific density, composition, thickness etc) to acurately depict/predict? Great video as always ^^

[@Artifexian]

Ye, too involved. We can just evoke them when we want.

[@AtarahDerek]

Regarding volcanism on transform boundaries: Continental transform boundaries have little to no volcanism (though it is still possible). But oceanic transform boundaries, while not as volcanically active, still produce notably more volcanic activity than on the continents. The Azores are formed by both divergent boundaries and transform boundaries. In fact, it's the transform boundaries that give those islands their general shape and orientation. Any plate boundary represents a weak point in the crust where magma can intrude. Since oceanic crust is thinner, magmatic intrusions more readily happen within all types of plate boundaries.

[@kemsat-n6h]

For anyone wondering about the triple-junctions: I believe that’s a result of the planet being spherical; as the surface is curved, you don’t have crosses form like they would on a flat surface. Instead, on a spherical surface, geometry is different, which leads to triangles with inner angles that add up to more than 180°. It’s that bit about triangles that leads to the triple-junctions.

[@thirdcoastfirebird]

Thanks for the update, and this is good to know.

[@gregorio7945]

Ayo! Glad to see your back dude!

[@alecmiddleton1842]

Thank you for turning me on to your orogenous zones.

[@TAP7a]

16:12 in the Rhodinia case, I'm noticing that a rift valley coincides mostly with the Sanaga River in Cameroon - it has a respectable drainage basin for sure, but it's got nothing on the Congo about 1000km south - I would have expected a rift to have been a significant advantage for river formation, but I suppose raising the boundaries probably only restricts its potential watershed with the raised sides more than having a clearer course would have better guided more local water towards it Just wanted to share a re-calibration of expectations and first thoughts

[@daniel_rossy_explica]

Also also, I've just noticed that there is a new, 2.3 version of GPlates. In your previous video, where you first mentioned GPlates, it was in 2.2 version (32-bit) whereas this new version is 64-bit, among other, siminly cool things

[@Hwelhos]

imma watch the rest tmr, really gotta sleep now

[@magnuszerum9177]

Ok, looks like I can try out my world with an equatorial convergent plate boundary.

[@jasonreed7522]

Its also worth noting that orogenys can happen without plate tectonics or surface volcanism. The Adirondacks in NY are actually geologically distinct from the Appalachians and were formed by a slow mantle plume that created a large granite dome under them pushing up the existing rock. That rock used to be the roots of an ancient mountain range and since it got run over by glaciers it wore off much of the younger rock, and now the second oldest exposed rock on earth is in the ADKs. The may be unassuming on an elevation map but they have a deceptive amount of history and ecology to them.

[@BattleshipOrion]

What you're saying about the alternating terrain is a different process. South of the Rockies, there is a volcanic region in New Mexico, where in which the continent is being stretched. To the south-west you have the Basin & Range, essentially, entire sections of crust are rotating. The Modern Rockies are also not the original mountains. You can find evidence of the mountains that previously existed as far west a Moab, Utah. For future reference, the Southwest is extremely rich in ancient volcanics, including an old caldera from an extinct super volcano. The East Coast is also home to another ancient plat boundary. It it's self is very obvious the more you look. The mountains appear to fold randomly. These are the modern Appalachians, these mountains are home to the vast coal veins, something you should note if you aint to far ahead (probably are). To kinda symbolize this, I apologize to those in the regions for the stereotyping here, but the more southwest you go in the US, the more Gold, Silver and Pioneers you'll find, the more northeast you go in the US, the more coal, industry, and Tycoons you'll find. Though distribution is random, it's true for the 19th and early 20th centuries.

[@jonathanthomas8736]

So... for supercontinent cycles, we've got Extroversion (Easy-ish), Introversion (Hard-ish), and the the situation where one subduction zone dies and one lives? (Perversion, perhaps), where you end up with two semisuper continents orbiting. I suspect they would act as slower supercontinents, as the magma plumes would make ridges rather than domes....

[@Derogue23]

This made me think of some really interesting concepts. You said that when there is a super continent the magma beneath forms a dome and eventually breaks the continent.. if this is the case, wouldn’t those dome’s theoretically form at the weakest point of the crust? If that is the case, the weakest point will likely be where it is thin, which is closer to the center of existing continental plates. By that logic, wouldn’t new “plates” form from the breaking of the existing continental plates, but not along existing fault lines?

[@Hwelhos]

finally another vid, couldnt wait for it :D

[@Sphednnics]

Thank you for making this (it’s really cool)

[@Feuermiss1405]

Super interesting to listen to as always, but defs not something I would personally do xD Kudos to you for getting into such detail

[@daniel_rossy_explica]

So we are finally getting to the part you abandoned when you started this new style. Good, I was hung up on gPlates and I can't wait to see how to make that damn program work.

[@skalor]

New upload nice

[@Dannnniel]

Yay hes back

[@Ggdivhjkjl]

Thanks for keeping the reference document free.

[@deathpigeon2]

Thank you for the lecture, Professor Artifexian. Today's class was really interesting! Will any of this be on the test?

[@7Tacit]

Hey, Edgar, do you have any sort of "reverse process"? e.g if I had some general arrangement of features in mind and wanted to work backwards to justify them and fill out the rest of the world.

[@Artifexian]

I wouldn't advise doing it in reverse. Just as I wouldn't advise creating a conlang and reverse engineering a proto-lang to justify it. To my mind, it's a one way process. If you've got a map already, stick with it. 100% legit move imo.

[@7Tacit]

@@Artifexian Allow me to rephrase: with conlanging, you can somewhat apply soundchanges to the proto-lang with an eye towards what the language at the end will sound like. Is there any equivalent for this sort of mapping? Some method whereby you can go through the process with an eye towards having a certain climate in that general area and a mountain chain in this general area and so on?

[@Artifexian]

Sure. You can have an idea of what you'd like your modern world to look like in a broad sense and because you'll have control over where the continents move you can make that happen. But if you already have a world map reverse engineering it is not worth it. Just like in conlanging, you go into it having a general idea of what you want but the evolution process determines the finer details.

[@MGDrzyzga]

I'd like it if your world had a pre-Himalayan area - continental/continental collision that's early enough in the process that you still have a short stretch of water separating them. This would probably be a strait full of volcanic islands? Seems like a rich place for mythology - think their version of the Scylla and Charybdis myth. Only with more fire.

[@nikolaihersfeldt9993]

This is basically what the Mediterranean is today.

[@irmaosmatos4026]

Zealandia is a ocean-plate? isn't it a inundated continental plate?

[@amehak1922]

That's Pangaea you showed, not Rodinia.

[@Great_Olaf5]

Huh, I knew about the Mississippi, but I didn't know that failed rifts being major river valleys was a regular occurrence. Isn't the introversion or that one you skipped the kind of continental cycle that keeps happening in earth? I remember something about the supercontinent having repeatedly broken up and pulled back together at like, 90° offset from where the previous one was, but definitely pulled back together rather than just continuing to push until they hit each other.

[@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim]

You're 100% correct, but Introversion is harder to do worldbuilding wise.

[@freyrnjordson9607]

Hello, first of all, thank you for this amazing series. I saw that you shared the reference docs drive link but it seems it is either deleted or inaccessible. Is it not available any more or is the link broken?

[@daniel_rossy_explica]

Also, I don't quite understand what the African Plate is doing "at least locally". Does that mean it is being rifted apart, so different parts of itself are moving in different directions?

[@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim]

Different parts are moving in different places. We've got a rift valley on the Eastern side of the Continent, but the western side is also moving eastward

[@daniel_rossy_explica]

@@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim Oh, I see. I should have read the article on Wikipedia before posting. It turns out that the "African Plate" ir really a bunch of cratons together, and they are spreding appart.

[@Artifexian]

Yup! The African plate (apart for the bit touch Europe) is basically grown on all sides.

[@theidioticbgilson1466]

!!!EAST AFRICAN RIFT VALLEY CANNON???? 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@TheInterestingInformer]

You’re the best

[@TechBearSeattle]

I am very eager to see the next video. What simulation app do you use?

[@lucas_e_jones]

From my understanding continental divergent boundaries form oceans, not volcanoes. Am I mistaken?

[@Artifexian]

Both happen. Have a look at a map of the world's volcanoes, you'll see a number of them in the East African Rift, a continental divergent zone. In the future, Africa may completely rift apart along then above zone and so a new ocean will form.

[@lucas_e_jones]

@@Artifexian I suppose I was misinformed! Thank you for that, I have a new worldbuilding tool in my toolbox now.

[@blackshard641]

So, would you say that convergent plate boundaries are Earth's orogenous zones?

[@iselwyr5411]

Artifexian can you start with an established-ish map and work backwards? Or is it better to try and start from the very beginning?

[@AaronGeo]

18:45 Voice crack

[@gamez4dayz117]

Is it bad I am learning more from this series than i did from school?

[@casandrahouk2153]

Anyone know why I can't download GPlates? Tried on several computers over several days. Can't get it to download at all on windows. Thanks for the new video! Can't wait for the next one!

[@Artifexian]

I've installed it on an intel Mac, an Arm Mac and my partner's windows laptop. All work perfectly. The issue might be that the new version of GPlates requires a 64-bit operating system. If you've a 32-bit OS, I don't think GPlates will work.

[@casandrahouk2153]

@@Artifexian thanks. Found a slightly older version and it works!

[@oldpineapple]

new zealand has an unusual plate boundary where one plate goes under the other at an angle. is there a word for this or research on it?

[@1354-w3d]

hoy vey the planet :)

[@evanpocock6083]

as soon as i can be pratry i will

[@MGDrzyzga]

Thought I recently had re: continents and world building I feel like I see an Antarctica-like continent pretty commonly. Let's break that assumption - how about a continent that has its "middle" in an arctic/antarctic circle, but both "ends" temperate? (Or I suppose a supercontinent crossing it). Point is, a massive frigid desert separating the two habitable halves. Technically you don't need to circumnavigate the globe to get from one to the other. But it might be easier.

[@Artifexian]

Ye, that's cool! Another fun thing one can do is try and position continents such that they don't give rise to certain climate zones. Like if there was no land between the equator and about 10º north and south of it, the earth simply wouldn't have rainforests, save for on a few isolated islands.

[@MGDrzyzga]

@@Artifexian I mean, that could work with a supercontinent "centered" around the arctic circle. Also means we have one side that's been drifting away from the equator, and another closer to it.

[@RakaTGP]

I'm sorry but I'm gonna use both extroversion & introversion.

[@Sagezilla08]

Well now I want to do introversion

[@firegoldpenguin]

What software did you use to make the reference doc?

[@zygmuntnowak8400]

Extraversion = Novopangaea Introversion = Pangaea Proxima

[@owenschulz9504]

26:50 I spent way too long trying to get that hair off of my phone

[@mollytaylor2122]

Wait _orogeny_ is a real word? I thought N. K. Jemisin made it up.

[@Artifexian]

Haha! So did I for the longest time :)

[@1TW1-m5i]

I'm going to guess that sometimes there's a mix of extroversion and introversion?

[@jilkj4]

not enough content creator doing stuff like this so glad you could find time to too youtube channels doing similar stuff Biblaridion = kzbin.info/door/MjTcpv56G_W0FRIdPHBn4Afeatured Mariah Pattie Worldbuilding = kzbin.info/door/L1euaj3aLE9pdHHNXYV-Aw Notes they do not have regulare upload times for these seirs as far as I'm aware and (this is my moms acount pleas do not juge her for this.)

[@otherperson]

Nakari speardane as well

[@RafaelSCalsaverini]

I'm going to make a band called Tate Plectonics

[@Technofier]

I posted this before on an earlier video, but I wanted to post it again here in the hopes some folks will see it :) It's no longer thought that green plants are a matter of luck at all, roll the dice again and you still get green plants. It appears that the reason plants are green is because that IS the peak wavelength... After taking into account filtering by atmospheric gases, the surface-incident (what actually hits the plant's surface) spectral PHOTON FLUX DENSITY is shifted all the way to red, peaking at 670 to 680 nm. Source: >> The Sun’s peak energy flux density at the top of the Earth’s atmosphere occurs at 450 nm, whereas its peak photon flux density occurs at 572-584 nm. In Kiang et al. (2007), we showed how the surface incident spectral photon flux density is shifted even more to the red to peak at 670-680 nm. From: Spectral Signatures of Photosynthesis. II. Coevolution with Other Stars and the Atmosphere on Extrasolar Worlds, NANCY Y. KIANG.

[@nicholasking2804]

Saying American Southwest for the earthquakes is a bit much, it's really only California and to a lesser extent Oregon and Washington. I live in Arizona and have only ever experienced the shockwave of a single earthquake in 20 years.

[@John_Weiss]

Eh, he's Irish. He doesn't know our geography over on this side of the pond very well. And we do have quite a bit of varied geography in our country. [For that matter, most people here in the US don't know the geography of their own country! You would not believe the number of people who think New Mexico is a foreign country. Or, on second thought, living in Arizona, you probably would…]

[@Artifexian]

Ye, it's more like the entire western coastal region and not just the south west regions. At least according to the US government. www.usgs.gov/media/images/2018-long-term-national-seismic-hazard-map According to Arizona geological survey, each year your state experiences hundreds of micro shakes and a few mag 3+ shakes (strong enough to be felt by humans) azgs.arizona.edu/center-natural-hazards/earthquakes

[@liiyu8795]

Can you make the wordsmith compatible with mobile (iOS and HAWAWEII specifically)

[@DeviilReaper]

Just a question, why do you call the star 'The Sun'? - The Sun is actually the name for our Star - so a different system would have a different name for the Star.

[@irmaosmatos4026]

Our star is the Sol (Sun in Latin)

[@DeviilReaper]

@@irmaosmatos4026 True

[@ijahnnakehlam5919]

He might come up with a new name later. Probably when we get into conlanging.

[@minutemansam1214]

@@irmaosmatos4026 This is a common misconception. Sol is a poetic name for the Sun, but the official astronomical name is The Sun. Just as the Earth is officially just The Earth (not Terra/Gaia), and the Moon is officially just The Moon (not Luna). Our Galaxy is officially called The Galaxy. The names Sol, Terra/Gaia, and Luna are poetic names but have no official status. The Milky Way is kind of a special case where the official name in English is just The Galaxy, but scientists but use the name The Milky Way Galaxy in formal scientific documents, so it's kind of a semi-official name.

[@ATOM-vv3xu]

69th like goes to me btw great vid

[@asailijhijr]

The Laramide orogeny looks like stretch marks on my belly.

[@30IYouTube]

I'm making something large: but I won't tell you until I'm done with it!