Comments on: Adding Tectonic Plates To Your World Map

By: Worldbuilding Wednesdays – Step-by-Step for Tectonic Plates | Emma Lindhagen

Wed, 04 Nov 2015 20:22:03 +0000

[…] Before I end, I also want to thank Grace (again!) and the people at Worldbuildingschool.com whose tectonic plate tutorial inspired me to add plates to my world. Their tutorial is good, this one just adds a bit more […]

By: Federico Tomassetti

Federico Tomassetti — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 12:55:42 +0000

I found a great library written in C for doing that. A master student wrote it as part of his thesis. If you are interested I created a wrapper in Python for it and used in a complete world generator:

Plate tectonics simulator:

https://github.com/ftomassetti/pyplatec

World generator:

https://github.com/ftomassetti/lands

And also a ciivilizations evolution simulator:

https://github.com/ftomassetti/civs

By: Second Star to the Right and Straight On ’til Morning | The Library of Theories

Thu, 03 Jul 2014 12:06:33 +0000

[…] for map making. A good worldbuilding blog World Building School, here are couple of posts Tectonic and Landscaping. I also found this lovely trove of underground cities in history. Think about […]

By: MK

MK — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:22:45 +0000

This and the “How To Draw Land” article have been so helpful! I’ve been struggling to create a realistic map for a few months now, but after reading through the first guide and trying it out, voila, realistic looking coast 😀 And to think, I just learned about Tectonic Plates in Physics the other day, and I was feeling like a nerd for trying to incorporate them into my map… Thank you so much for these, this website is a lifesaver ^_^

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:09:25 +0000

Hope you don’t mind me playing with your map, but you could divide that big central plate in half and make the new seam an undersea spreading zone, like the Mid-Atlantic ridge. That way the East side of the big island and the West side of the smaller island could have indeed once been joined together, formed a rift valley, and then split, drifting apart and creating a new ocean with a spreading undersea ridge in the middle.
Both of the new plates are land plates so when they collided with the other lands, neither of them subducted but rather lifted, forming mountain chains on both islands that run from North to South.
Anyway, that’s one possibility..

By: Nathan Smith

Nathan Smith — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 10:33:19 +0000

In reply to Michael.

Hey Michael,

Yea you’re probably right. I did contemplate it myself when first sketching. I probably need to either draw another plate in there somewhere or change the movement of the right side of the plate to expanding.

Think I’ll also put an oceanic plate in there somewhere. 🙂

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:43:01 +0000

Ok, I’m dumb. Where did the two islands once fit together? Is it the coast with the little peninsula on the northeast coast of the big island fitting into the coast with the bay in the southwest coast of the little island? If that’s it, how could they spread apart if they’re on the same plate?

By: Landscaping Your World Map | World Building School

Landscaping Your World Map | World Building School — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 17:24:38 +0000

[…] on from last week’s tutorial on Tectonic plates we’re looking at how the plates affect the landscape of your world and so the environment your […]