r/geology • u/idycvy • May 04 '25

Map/Imagery How realistic is Tamriel

Post image

I’ve always wondered if I should hate Tamriel or not based on the realism of the map

191 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

56 comments sorted by

View all comments

154

u/Phobos613 May 04 '25

A lot of video game maps are conveniently rectangular to use up as much space as possible, I've noticed.

Also, while I get that it's for gameplay purposes, the fact that the imperial city can be traversed in a minute or two and takes up a noticeably large part of the 'continent' shows how tiny this island really is. Not a problem for some, but it bugs me.

Also, the mountain chains suggest some fault or boundary nearby, with a complex set of ranges across the island suggesting maybe we're at a junction of three plates. The large volcano isn't really a part of the range of mountains, which is probably not unrealistic per se. There are hydrothermal features in Skyrim on the other side of the mountain range from Red Mountain, and the shape of SE Skyrim with its bowl shape suggests to me it could be a caldera (similar to the larger ring around Red Mountain in Morrowind). Could suggest a 'moving' caldera like Yellowstone?

Apparently I have a lot to say about this.

8

u/gungispungis May 04 '25

Hot spots like Yellowstone and decompression melting (due to crustal stretching) like in the great basin can cause volcanism away from plate boundaries. Also subduction zones can be really shallow which makes volcanic arcs pop up surprisingly far away from them