watershed
So, Nick got me thinking about the damn valley again, which got me to do some research, which again got me thinking more, which came up for a firm explanation to life in the Green River Valley. First, I gotta revisit the map and add some tributaries. But here's how it's possible the way I have it written.
To the north of the area, there's a sort of inlet sea. The cliff face on the three landed sides of the sea is wracked with caves. Now, because my world's flat, there's an irregular orbit to the sun, which generates seasons. Since the moon orbits closer to the world and opposite the sun to counter it's gravity pull, it's orbit is equally odd. Therefore, instead of a monthly lunar tide, there's an annual one, in winter, when the moon's closer to that half of the land than the other.
So, during the winter, the sea level rises, rushes into this inlet sea and fills the cave system. Well, there's a major underground water passage from here, up to the start of the Green River. In that passage, most of the salinity in the water is lost, swapped out for good solid minerals. For most of this journey, the water is just under the surface of the land, bubbling forth a mere couple hundred miles from the ocean and southern shore. So, during the winter, the water level on the river rises and the water table expands.
As it recedes back to it's summer levels, more traditional crops are planted. Irrigation is primarily a series of small canals running off of tributaries and left over creeks, while pumps are either powered by hand or a series of gears turned via ox or mule (or camel closer to the desert edge).
The west of the valley (the windward side) is bordered by a plateau/cliff and a series of hardened salt encrusted dunes. West of the valley, the desert is more of a steppe and dry plains than a true desert, getting some moisture from sea borne storms as well as small streams from the northern mountain range. Close to the western shore lies a large range of salt lands, bordered by mining communites, and a marshland exists on the southwestern end of the land, bordered by a village that specializes in swamp harvested spell components. Numerous oases exist throughout this area, making travel dangerous but not nearly as much as in the east.
The east side is a smoother transition into desert, but that desert is more harsh, being a windless, sun baked land with no rain and water only available in rare oases and mineral springs. Despite that, one of the great salt lands lies to the east and a well developed trade route runs from the river valley to the communities of salt miners existing out there. Also, the only natural pass through the northern mountains lies through this desert, but it is rarely utilized due to the harsh conditions of the desert lands north of the mountains, bordering the inlet sea and leading to the great Glacial Wall that marks the northern edge of the world.
Man, I love working on this shit.
To the north of the area, there's a sort of inlet sea. The cliff face on the three landed sides of the sea is wracked with caves. Now, because my world's flat, there's an irregular orbit to the sun, which generates seasons. Since the moon orbits closer to the world and opposite the sun to counter it's gravity pull, it's orbit is equally odd. Therefore, instead of a monthly lunar tide, there's an annual one, in winter, when the moon's closer to that half of the land than the other.
So, during the winter, the sea level rises, rushes into this inlet sea and fills the cave system. Well, there's a major underground water passage from here, up to the start of the Green River. In that passage, most of the salinity in the water is lost, swapped out for good solid minerals. For most of this journey, the water is just under the surface of the land, bubbling forth a mere couple hundred miles from the ocean and southern shore. So, during the winter, the water level on the river rises and the water table expands.
As it recedes back to it's summer levels, more traditional crops are planted. Irrigation is primarily a series of small canals running off of tributaries and left over creeks, while pumps are either powered by hand or a series of gears turned via ox or mule (or camel closer to the desert edge).
The west of the valley (the windward side) is bordered by a plateau/cliff and a series of hardened salt encrusted dunes. West of the valley, the desert is more of a steppe and dry plains than a true desert, getting some moisture from sea borne storms as well as small streams from the northern mountain range. Close to the western shore lies a large range of salt lands, bordered by mining communites, and a marshland exists on the southwestern end of the land, bordered by a village that specializes in swamp harvested spell components. Numerous oases exist throughout this area, making travel dangerous but not nearly as much as in the east.
The east side is a smoother transition into desert, but that desert is more harsh, being a windless, sun baked land with no rain and water only available in rare oases and mineral springs. Despite that, one of the great salt lands lies to the east and a well developed trade route runs from the river valley to the communities of salt miners existing out there. Also, the only natural pass through the northern mountains lies through this desert, but it is rarely utilized due to the harsh conditions of the desert lands north of the mountains, bordering the inlet sea and leading to the great Glacial Wall that marks the northern edge of the world.
Man, I love working on this shit.
posted by Amazing Shafeman at 3:09 PM
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