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The Geography and Geology of Tamriel is a rather strange subject. It occurred to me that many of the borders between the various provinces of Tamriel are defined by towering mountain ranges and although this is easily explainable from a game design point of view (To restrict the player to the province) we can see that there are such places in the real world as well. Tamriel in quite often defined as a continent, however continents are indeed made up of several tectonic plates. A good example of this would be India, resting on its own tectonic plate, which is pushing northwards into the colossal Eurasian plate, forming the Himalayan mountains.
My point here is that each province is, deep underground, pushing towards the centre forming the massive mountain ranges of the Colovian, Jerall and Valus Mountains. For me it explains Tamriel's shape, and could also lead to some interesting implications for people like the Dwemer and whichever apocalypse comes next; due to the nature of plate tectonics the boundaries are often hotspots for volcanic/seismic activity. What do you guys think?

There is nothing to suggest tectonic activity exists on Nirn. Red Mountain is a god's bleeding heart, Black Marsh came from a different realm of existence, and Solstheim's movement was due to a wizard battle. The other continents may not even be real; Aldmeris and Atmora are from the chaos of the Dawn, and some theories suggest Yokuda and Akavir represent past and future kalpas respectively (thus the Redguard's fondness of the sea and Akavir's oddly mirrored parallels with Tamriel). Natural caves are simply ancient capillaries and mountain ranges appear unchanging. Your best bet is Mount Trolhetta, an active volcano in the Velothi/Valus Mountains (but, again, proximity to the gaping wound of the world is probably the driving factor there).

Once I learned that the sun is actually an oozing hole in the sky, I threw all attempts to think about TES's physics out the window.

Tingz0r wrote:Once I learned that the sun is actually an oozing hole in the sky, I threw all attempts to think about TES's physics out the window.

You, sir, have summed up this situation perfectly. Frankly I was bored and overthought.

There is mention of a volcanic crater in Hammerfell in the Infernal City book, but I'm just throwing this out there because volcanoes and volcanic activity isn't synonymous with plate tectonics, volcanoes happen even if there is no system of plate tectonics, they just become *huge* when there isn't a moving plate underneath them. Olympus Mons in Mars, the largest volcano in the Solar System, is one example of that, we have nothing suggesting any sort of plate tectonics in Mars, and yet there are volcanoes there. The same applies to Nirn. We have nothing suggesting any sort of plate dynamics, and volcanic activity (which is widespread across Tamriel, not localised only in the outskirts of where Lokhan's Heart landed) isn't proof of the existence of plates.

Also, I'm not 100% sure, but I believe there was a book suggesting that mountains were formed during the Dawn Wars, where the gods struck the earth and fell on the ground and the mountains formed from that, so no plate tectonics there as well.

BrynjarIsenbana wrote:volcanic activity (which is widespread across Tamriel, not localised only in the outskirts of where Lokhan's Heart landed)

Are you talking about the prevalence of subterranean magma, or literal volcanoes? Because I can't think of any examples of volcanism outside of Morrowind and Eastmarch (aside from that Hammerfell volcano you mention, which I don't actually remember from the books).

legoless wrote:

BrynjarIsenbana wrote:volcanic activity (which is widespread across Tamriel, not localised only in the outskirts of where Lokhan's Heart landed)

Are you talking about the prevalence of subterranean magma, or literal volcanoes? Because I can't think of any examples of volcanism outside of Morrowind and Eastmarch (aside from that Hammerfell volcano you mention, which I don't actually remember from the books).

I haven't read the books myself, but I was told that on page 257 of IC there is the mention of a volcanic crater in Hammerfell, but that's the only mention I have seen, but it suggests that there are volcanoes outside of Morrowind and nearby regions, or at least that one mentioned in the book.

Here's the actual quote, for context:

Infernal City wrote:[Talking about The Scathing Bay]... It reminded him of the volcanic crater he'd once seen on a trip to Hammerfell.