Carving The Details

In the previous article, I took the results of the first stage continental breakup and pulled things apart just a bit further. We ended up with what you see here. Now it’s time to do that final pulling apart to create the “modern” world makeup. The time period we want to use this world for isn’t as important as it might seem at this point. These changes take millions of years to occur. Humans haven’t been on Earth for even one of these millions. So, what we are setting up here is the framework that our modern people on our world will develop within. Any changes in the structure from there will be on the scale of centimeters and meters, not formation of separate continents.

The Final Picture

Add the last ten or so million years, shake, stir, and voila.

Here’s what our “modern” world looks like ... for the most part. All of the continents toward the west/left share a common heritage, and so do those on the right/east. On top of that, the last piece to break up will have very similar creatures on it with perhaps minor color and other physical variations.

But Not Quite Yet

Now, there’s one more thing I’ve ignored throughout this whole process of laying the land. Water. Water is one of the major driving forces on Earth for shaping the geography we live and work in every day. There are two forms of water that make a difference over the millions of years of changes we’ve just put into effect: ice, and liquid. Liquid water in the form of rain and ocean waves can do amazing things with soil and rock over the millennia. So can little things called Ice Ages.

Let It Rain

Liquid water is a powerful force. Whenever you go to a beach you see evidence of its work. The sloping of the land, grains of sand, smoothed rocks and shells--they're all made simply by the constant motion of the sea. Mineral-rich water seeping through cave roofs makes both stalagmites and stalactites. Barren slopes have tiny grooves from where the water has repeatedly taken the same path down, and the Grand Canyon was carved in much part by the simple act of a river flowing, and flowing, and flowing. There are amazing rock formations all over the world that were carved by the inexorable flow of water long ago. Some of those places are deserts now. Some are under the sea.

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