Wyrring Geology

My goal for this world was always to create a setting which was both fantastical and wonderful, but also grounded in reality. Unfortunately for me, both my parents and my brother are geologists, and I drew the map before considering the geological timeline of the world. To relieve this stress, I've created this article to serve as notes to discuss and determine potential explanations for the world.

Maps

Version 1

Version 2

Notes

General

The bedrock throughout Wyrring typically consists of limestone, with volcanics present towards the north of Estalia. Various types of carbonate landforms would also be present throughout the areas with Limestone, such as karsts, sinkholes, and caves. Additionally, because of the widespread limestone, these is likely a large amount of fossils of small aquatic creatures, such as crinoids, mollusks, or brachiopods.

Devil's Teeth Range

One of the primary geological features in the region, the Devil's Teeth range separates the western coast of Wyrring to the remainder of the continent. These mountains were imagined to be incredibly tall, such as the Himalayas. The following can be assumed:

• The Devil's Teeth Range is likely caused by a subduction zone of two tectonic plates. The first is the oceanic plate to the west, which is travelling to the east, and being subducted under a continental plate.
• Due to their height and inspiration, we assumed the oceanic plate is travelling approximately 5 cm/year, based on the speed of the Indian Plate.

Revision 1:

• Large areas of the range are volcanically active, with many volcanoes present. Of these volcanoes, Mount Moradin is the largest, and serves as an important cultural icon for both the dwarves of Kraggenhammen as well as the Ursae.
• The mountain range continues into the Dwemni Empire, but it is not shown on the map as the area is mostly unvisited by Estalians.

Revision 2:

• Earthquakes are frequent in this area.
• Mineral deposits can be found throughout the range, typically consisting of Zinc and Lead, from Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide ore deposits.

Mount Moradin

Mount Moradin is the largest mountain in the Devil's Teeth Range, and is a dormant volcano. Volcanoes are fairly common in subduction zones, which further supports the above assumptions.

Rama Range (Revision 1)

To the south and west of Lake Sophie lies the Rama Range mountains. Originally an extension of the Devil's Teeth Range, this range has been offset by approximately 250 km due to the plate movement. This range has undergone substantial weathering due to the nearby lake and because the mountains themselves are no longer being substantially created due to the faulting. The following notes:

• A transverse fault exists along the southern coast of the The Brightwater at the Great Divide. This fault continues straight at Land's Edge, until Ka Hei.
• This fault results in many earthquakes in this area.
• The Rama Range mountains are a shorter version of the Devil's Teeth Range, and are particularly weathered towards the north.

Yaltri River (Revision 1)

The following were assumed for the Yaltri River:

• The source of the Yaltri River is both the immediate Devil's Teeth Range Mountains, but also from smaller tributaries. Officially, the Yaltri River continues through Ostrangard and into the Dwemni Empire. The largest tributary is known as the Fruss River, which continues straight into the more immediate Devil's Teeth Range Mountains from the Clarenware Woods.
• Historically, the river has meandered significantly, and left substantial sediment deposits throughout Aedan.
• This meandering has more recently been contained by the growth of the Clarenware Woods.

The Great Divide

The Great Divide is a 300 m cliff separating the Summer Shores and The Barrens. In our world, tall cliffs such as the Cliffs of Dover and the Niagara Escarpment are made of limestone, which are created from the deposition and sedimentation of algae, coral, etc. This deposition is a very long process - for example, the Cliffs of Dover are estimated to have been deposited at 0.5 mm/year. This suggests two things in the area.

• The Barrens was previously underwater for a significant period of time.
• Either The Brightwater has dropped since the initial deposition - similar to the Niagara Escarpment - or the Barrens has been raised up by tectonic forces - similar to the Cliffs of Dover.

As well, as we know the Summer Shores is approximately 50 km from the base of the Great Divide to the shores of the Brightwater, and assuming the tectonic plate is moving at 5 cm/year:

• The event resulting in the Great Divide - either by raising of the land or lowering of the water - occurred approximately 1 Million years ago.

Revision 2:

• Earthquakes are frequent along the southern edge of the Great Divide, which can create tsunamis which batter the Summer Shores

Kraggenhammen

The dwarven city of Kraggenhammen rests at the foot of the Devil's Teeth Range, and consists of several open pit mines which contain gemstones. As well, I've always imagined Kraggenhammen made mostly of marble, which is a metamorphized limestone. This metamorphosis is also a requirement for the gemstones, as they are also created under conditions of extreme heat and pressure. Due to the depth typically required for metamorphosis, the rocks in Kraggenhammen have likely been raised significantly, or a substantial amount of material has been scraped above it. This suggests the following:

• The rock surrounding Kraggenhammen consists of Marble, which has metamorphosed due to the presence of the subduction zone nearby.
• This subduction zone has also created the gemstones.
• Due to the shallow depth of both the marble and gemstones, Kraggenhammen has experienced either a substantial raising, or substantial scouring.

Revision 2:

• These gems consist primarily of Rhodenchrosite, Malachite, Ankerite, and Dolomite.
• The marble present near Kraggenhammen is due to contact metamorphism because of the nearby influence of Mount Moradin.

Estalia

Estalia has always been imagined as a region with many lakes and exposed rocks, similar to the Canadian Shield. The Canadian Shield was formed during the most recent ice age, where ice sheets covered most of North America. When these sheets melted, the water surged across the underlying ground, resulting in substantial erosion, deposition of sediment, and water generation. This previous ice age finished approximately 10,000 years ago, and lasted for approximately 20,000 years. As well, ice ages occur approximately every 100,000 years. We can assume the following:

• Estalia was covered by a massive ice sheet approximately 30,000 to 10,000 years ago, which carved away at the landscape, resulting in its many lakes and rivers.

Revision 2:

• The bedrock in the northern portion of Estalia is primarily volcanics from the Kymene hotspots, while the southern portion is primarily limestone.

Metis/Carlis/Jesper Bay

The bay between the Estalian cities of Metis, Carli's, and Jesper is approximately 65 km in diameter, and is very roughly circular. In my mind, this suggests that it could have been formed either by natural processes, or through an asteroid impact. Because the impact is the cooler option, let's run with that one. Considering the existence of the Underdark in this world, it would be interesting if the impact punched a hole into one of its pockets, which could have caused the massive drop in the sea level as water rushed in. This although normally would have also resulted in a large tsunami in this historical sea, which could be noted through the presence of a thin layer of deposits in the stratigraphy, this deposition may not exist from a combination of the water withdrawing and subsequent glaciations. Maybe this layer exists up in the Devil's Teeth Range or Ostrangard.

Revision 2: This bay is lined with large cliffs on all sides and drops steeply into deeper water. Platinum, Osmium, and Rhodium can all be found surrounding the bay.

Brost

Brost serves as a major iron mine for the majority of Estalia. The source of this iron is up for debate. In our world, iron deposits can be formed either from the interaction between magma plumes and the surrounding rock, but they were primarily formed from the first cyanobacteria. When photosynthesis first began, the oxygen created bonded to the high concentration of iron in the primordial sea, which ultimately sunk and formed banded iron formations. Additionally, deposits of iron could be created from iron-rich meteor impacts. I'm uncertain which of these three will apply to Brost, however, the primordial sea is tempting as it suggests much of Estalia may have - or previously had - similar iron deposits, however, they may have been removed from the previous ice age. I will leave this as a further mystery for now.

Kymene and Adoris

The peninsulas near Kymene and Adoris consist of volcanic rocks, suggesting hotspots at their western edges. Similar to Hawaii, these peninsulas are formed by lava cooling upon reaching the surface, which are continuously extended as the oceanic plate moves above it. Hot spots are located at the western edges of the peninsula near Kymene and Adoris. First signs of these hotspots are approximately 146 km away from the current hotspots, suggesting they first appeared around 2.9 Million years ago.

Northern Isles (Revision 2)

The northern isles are a series of volcanic islands, in which a kymberlite pipe is present. This has resulted in it being one of the few places diamonds are found naturally in Wyrring, making the territory very valuable.

Aedan

Aedan is covered in fertile soil, which deposited due to a combination of the ancient sea which overlay it, the leading edge of the Estalian ice sheets, and deposition from the Asteroid event. Revision 1: This deposition is also due partially to the meandering of the Yaltri and Bravo Rivers. Revision 2: The elevation of Aedan rises relatively steeply from the shore, with a series of relic hills present approximately 50 km from the coast. It is believed that these hills are leftover from the northern extent of The Great Divide.

The Barrens and The Great Expanse (Revision 2)

The Barrens and the Great Expanse are primarily wastelands which are affected greatly by the nearby Great Divide. The following can be noted:

• Earthquakes are frequent along the transverse fault travelling along the southern portion of the Great Divide and the southern protion of the Barrens
• Marble can be found along the southern portion of the Barrens.
• The Barrens contains frequent patches of caliche, and karsts.

Geological Timeline Summary

5M years ago (Revision 1)	The oceanic plate underneath the western coast of Wyrring collides with the continental plate to the east, creating the Devil's Teeth Range. During this time, most of the continent was covered by a shallow sea, which formed the limestone which serves as the predominant bedrock in the region.
2.9M years ago	The Kymene Hot Spot first interacts with water, creating the various peninsulas in the area.
1M years ago	An asteroid makes impact in the modern-day location of Metis, causing a large tsunami and the water level to drop by 300 m, creating both the Great Divide as well as exposing large portions of the oceanic plate.
30k-10k years ago	Most of Estalia is covered in large ice sheets during the previous ice age.

Comments

Review 1

Comment	Response
For starters, your plate movement makes sense for the mountains, but since this is a regional scale map, you have a fault that's going almost perpendicular to your plate movement. Which could make sense if you have your mountain range stopping at that fault boundary, and continuing along in the south, but it doesn't. Either make mountains on the other side of your fault, or tweak the degrees it's moving in. It should look something like this. Or just change your fault direction, whatever is easiest.	Assuming the collision occured 5M years ago (see below note), and a plate movement of 5 cm/year, the mountains south of the plate boundary will be offset by 250 km. This "new" range of mountains have been named the "Rama Range" temporarily, but I will ask my brother - the discoverer - what he wants to call them.
Add like a hilly area to your desert, that could show revelant fault movement, and shows physical weathering of the S moved mountains.	The S moved mountains are weathered significantly in the north, with less weathering towards the south.
You would also have multiple volcanoes along a continent/ocean [plate] boundary. That whole devils tooth range should be volcanically "active".	Added note that Devil's Tooth Range is volcanically active.
Your plate movement is also very VERY fast, you would have to add more mountains if thats the case. You don't have a start date for you formation, but saying ~5Ma for 5 cm per year of movement would need lots more mountains	Assume start of formation (i.e. when the oceanic plate made contact with the continental plate) was approximately 5M years ago. Comparing it to the real-world Indian Plate collision, which occured 35-55M years ago, and created the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau with a width of 610 to 1250 km. Scaling that down, we would expect a range 60 to 125 km wide. That fits well with the Version 1 map. That being said, I hate math, so I'm gonna say that the range extends into the Dwemni Empire, however, because the map is Estalian, it's not shown.

Review 2

In general, the proposed timeline and general arrangement is possible.	The oceanic plate underneath the western coast of Wyrring collides with the continental plate to the east, creating the Devil's Teeth Range. During this time, most of the continent was covered by a shallow sea, which formed the limestone which serves as the predominant bedrock in the region. An asteroid makes impact in the modern-day location of Metis, causing a large tsunami and the water level to drop by 300 m, creating both the Great Divide as well as exposing large portions of the oceanic plate. Substantial glaciation in Estalia
Due to the transverse plate and convergent plate, it is expected that many earthquakes and tsunamis will be present, with the sources occuring along the faults.	Added earthquake notes to The Devil's Teeth Range, Great Divide, and The Barrens/Great Expanse sections.
Hotspots are typically much larger than what are shown in Rev 1. They should be grouped together and the volcanic bedrock be extended to the Carlis-Metis-Jesper bay. The Jesper swamp should be moved south to accommodate this change.	The swamp has been moved to the southern side of the bay Added note to Estalia about the northern portion consisting of volcanics
The Carlis-Metis-Jesper asteroid would have created massive cliffs along the shore. As well, it could have deposited precious minerals such as Platinum, Osmium, or Rhodium along the edge (similar to the Sudbury Basin)	Added notes about minerals Added cliffs to map
The glacial activity would result in Estalia becoming more and more flat as you travel north	I've added hills to Estalia and Aedan surrounding the Clarenware Woods
The Brightwater should be a shallow sea with large amounts of islands, reefs, and corals	Added note to The Brightwater article.
Marble is metamorphosed limestone, which is created by the heat and pressure acting on the limestone. This will primarily occur in fault areas, such as the southern end of the Barrens through "Contact Metamorphism", or at convergent boundaries through Contact Metamorphism with magma or Regional Metamorphism.	Added note to the Barrens regarding marble on it's southern portion Added note to Kraggenhammen regarding the influence of Mount Moradin on the formation of marble
Mineral deposits would be present across the plate boundaries at the southern edge of The Barrens at the edge of the Devil's Teeth Range. These will typically Zinc and Lead, from Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide ore deposits.	Added note to Devil's Teeth Range
Because of the widespread limestone, these is likely a large amount of fossils of small aquatic creatures, such as crinoids, mollusks, or brachiopods.	Added note to General section
Various types of carbonate landforms would also be present throughout the area, such as karsts, sinkholes, and caves. In particular, it may be cool for the Barrens to contain many karsts. As well, The Barrens and The Great Expanse could consist of Caliche, which would make it difficult for anything to grow there.	Added notes to Caliche for the Barrens Added note to General section
A kymberlite pipe can be present at the Northern Islands, which would allow for diamonds to be present.	Added note for Northern Islands
The gem deposit at Kraggenhammen would probably consist of Rhodenchrosite, Malachite, Ankerite, and Dolomite.	Added note to Kraggenhammen
	Added chain of hills in line with the Great Divide. Added note to Aedan regarding relic hills.