Speculative biology is simultaneously a science and form of art in which one speculates on the possibilities of life and evolution. What could the world look like if dinosaurs had never gone extinct? What could alien lifeforms look like? What kinds of plants and animals might exist in the far future? These questions and more are tackled by speculative biologists, and the Speculative Evolution welcomes all relevant ideas, inquiries, and world-building projects alike. With a member base comprising users from across the world, our community is the largest and longest-running place of gathering for speculative biologists on the web.
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im working on a little sideproject related to a fantasy world. and i was thinking if its geologically possible to make a landlocked body of water that could be considered a sea, withouth having any trace of salinity.
basically, a fresh water sea is the topic says. my main idea was to make a supercontinent in the likes of Pangea with a huge rift stretching from north to south. this rift is a gigantic canyon in the likes of the Mediterranean. and the water is supplied by several rivers that originate from the icecaps far on the poles.
i was thinking of making it horizontal but i dont think the wind patterns would allow for precipitation in the center of the continent so it wouldnt fill enough. there's also the issue with gelogical patterns that i havent been able to figure out.
but yeah, the general concept is basically "Mediterranean without Salt"
i was actually looking on similar concepts online but i didnt found anything. so i came to the forums to ask.
NOTES: i was planning to put this in Science Central, but it seems the forum is mostly to post articles so didnt want to make such interruption..
Animalia, Chordata, Mammalia, Primates, Hominidae, Homo sapiens sapiens
Favorite Quote:
One cannot define what life IS, but we sure as heck can define what it ISN'T.
Probably not; oceans are salty because they're where all the minerals collected by rivers end up. Any sufficiently large and long-lasting body of water will end up being salty.
"We've started a cult about a guy's liver, of course we're going to demand that you give us an incredibly scientific zombie apocalypse." -Nanotyranus
adding a cavern system deep on the soil would allow for drainage?, this off course, speaking of sedimentary rock or something to make the water reach the underground passages. so they can later reach the ocean or something...
Forum user Uncanny Gemstar drew what is supposed to be a me. Thanks!
Spoiler: click to toggle
As they walk in, they're greeted by a small, poorly kept pathway leading to a poorly constructed Japanese-style gate. Behind this, a small field made up of corn, rice, wheat, potatoes, among other plants is contrasted by large piles of books, as well as a few rather out of place looking laptops. Off in the corner, a small woman, with long, striped, and strikingly colorful socks, no shoes, unremarkable denim shorts, a large, fancy black coat, arm warmers, glasses, a tuque, and somewhat unkempt, mid-length blue-and-pink-streaked red hair, is rummaging through a trash bin, located behind a sign saying "employees only". She continues this for a while (walking behind a wall to change her outfit now and then), until one of her visitors coughs. Startled, she looks up, apologizes, and grabs a handful of textbooks and novels before daintily running off to join them.
What, you want me to tell you what these mean?
Predenterra The (Lost) Lost World The Standing World
Read First
Clarifications on my sex and gender Sorry if I come off as rude, I don't put much thought into word choice sometimes. I'm also super prone to editing my posts, sometimes multiple times, in the minutes following posting. For the love of god, take my posts from my earlier days on the forum with a grain of salt. I was not particularly knowledgeable or mature back then. Some of them are so cringe-worthy I can't even bring myself to look at them.
Words Maybe
Great Words
Words To Spec By
It would have to be something extremely alien, pushing the limits of our imagination. But those are always my favorite kinds of life. ~~The Words of The Xenologist
Words To Live By
Ignorance is never insulting if you're willing to learn, we're all ignorant about most things. ~~The Words of Lamna
Words I Live By
Yeah, and even if you don't agree with creationists on that concept, that doesn't mean they can't be decent people. I have friends who are creationist (possibly even young earth) that I get along with fine in general life. I don't think they're right of course, but that doesn't make them intellectual degenerates. ~~The Words of forbidden3
Member Quotes
jman123
Ass-breathing fish-lizards? Sounds like a punk rock band
Sheather
"Holy fucking shit a toilet paper roll! Our favorite thing!"
Urufumarukai
Tyrannosaurus aquastronka
Kamineigh
Myo, if you don't stop reading the YouTube comments...
Lamna
Are you saying what I think you're saying?
Sheather bathes in cum?
Cephylus
And last night I dreamed I was blowing up a Kindergarten with a grenade launcher for no particular reason...
revin
Oh, and of course more people get killed by selfies than by sharks. Of course.
The smell of rotting flesh really kills my appetite, surprising, but the visual appearance of corpses makes me hungry. Is that weird?
Ebervalius
I mean, let us say I'm a genderfluid blurflux demi-romantic woman who is sexually attracted to men, but only if they are Melanesian and have a voice like that of Nicholas Cage. Okay, so what?
trex841
When I first saw that picture, I thought you were dissecting a condom.
Mr Mysterio
All hail Robo-Stalin.
Peashyjah
Seems like everything in this project is now dead.
Stealth Rock
Seagulls are pretty much trees, right?
Watcher
We all must finish chapters of our lives to go on to the next. Sometime this means leaving behind versions of ourselves that don't want to die.
Yiqi15
For April fool's, we had to make an orgasm that resembled a human foot.
Flisch
im the black market
CaledonianWarrior96
He was a skater birb, she said tweet you later birb
Most People at Some Point
Quotes
Some dude called plucas1 from Youtube comments
Funny, isn't it, that our world needs Clark Kent a lot more than Superman.
Xenoblade Chronicles
Even though he is our creator, that does not afford him the right to take our lives on a whim. But that is the thinking of a homs. He is a god. Such morals cannot apply to gods. So you think we should just shut up and die?! If that is the fate decided by a god. You are mistaken if you think we will simply accept such a fate and wait to die. We'll never stop fighting. Not till the end. To Zanza, the outcome is the same. Thus your logic is flawed.
Hades - Kid Icarus Uprising
When freaky aliens give you lemons, make freaky alien lemonade.
Kid Icarus Uprising
But Souls are delicious. They're like bacon - they taste good on anything. But if you eat them, you completely remove them from existence! They can't move on or... or be reincarnated! Huh. I never really gave it much thought. Besides, what do you mean by reincarnation anyway? You know, being reborn as someone or something else. Which means different body, different memories, different experiences, yes? So isn't being reborn as "something else" the same as being "removed from existence"? I... I... eating souls isn't right! That depends on your definition of "right". All living things survive by eating other living things. So what? You're a god. You should be above all that! Gods are above living things, which doesn't necessarily mean we care about them.
it is but we're talking of a completelly different world so it could be normal for the folks living on it. since it would be larger than any lake they know in the rest of the continent.
Forum user Uncanny Gemstar drew what is supposed to be a me. Thanks!
Spoiler: click to toggle
As they walk in, they're greeted by a small, poorly kept pathway leading to a poorly constructed Japanese-style gate. Behind this, a small field made up of corn, rice, wheat, potatoes, among other plants is contrasted by large piles of books, as well as a few rather out of place looking laptops. Off in the corner, a small woman, with long, striped, and strikingly colorful socks, no shoes, unremarkable denim shorts, a large, fancy black coat, arm warmers, glasses, a tuque, and somewhat unkempt, mid-length blue-and-pink-streaked red hair, is rummaging through a trash bin, located behind a sign saying "employees only". She continues this for a while (walking behind a wall to change her outfit now and then), until one of her visitors coughs. Startled, she looks up, apologizes, and grabs a handful of textbooks and novels before daintily running off to join them.
What, you want me to tell you what these mean?
Predenterra The (Lost) Lost World The Standing World
Read First
Clarifications on my sex and gender Sorry if I come off as rude, I don't put much thought into word choice sometimes. I'm also super prone to editing my posts, sometimes multiple times, in the minutes following posting. For the love of god, take my posts from my earlier days on the forum with a grain of salt. I was not particularly knowledgeable or mature back then. Some of them are so cringe-worthy I can't even bring myself to look at them.
Words Maybe
Great Words
Words To Spec By
It would have to be something extremely alien, pushing the limits of our imagination. But those are always my favorite kinds of life. ~~The Words of The Xenologist
Words To Live By
Ignorance is never insulting if you're willing to learn, we're all ignorant about most things. ~~The Words of Lamna
Words I Live By
Yeah, and even if you don't agree with creationists on that concept, that doesn't mean they can't be decent people. I have friends who are creationist (possibly even young earth) that I get along with fine in general life. I don't think they're right of course, but that doesn't make them intellectual degenerates. ~~The Words of forbidden3
Member Quotes
jman123
Ass-breathing fish-lizards? Sounds like a punk rock band
Sheather
"Holy fucking shit a toilet paper roll! Our favorite thing!"
Urufumarukai
Tyrannosaurus aquastronka
Kamineigh
Myo, if you don't stop reading the YouTube comments...
Lamna
Are you saying what I think you're saying?
Sheather bathes in cum?
Cephylus
And last night I dreamed I was blowing up a Kindergarten with a grenade launcher for no particular reason...
revin
Oh, and of course more people get killed by selfies than by sharks. Of course.
The smell of rotting flesh really kills my appetite, surprising, but the visual appearance of corpses makes me hungry. Is that weird?
Ebervalius
I mean, let us say I'm a genderfluid blurflux demi-romantic woman who is sexually attracted to men, but only if they are Melanesian and have a voice like that of Nicholas Cage. Okay, so what?
trex841
When I first saw that picture, I thought you were dissecting a condom.
Mr Mysterio
All hail Robo-Stalin.
Peashyjah
Seems like everything in this project is now dead.
Stealth Rock
Seagulls are pretty much trees, right?
Watcher
We all must finish chapters of our lives to go on to the next. Sometime this means leaving behind versions of ourselves that don't want to die.
Yiqi15
For April fool's, we had to make an orgasm that resembled a human foot.
Flisch
im the black market
CaledonianWarrior96
He was a skater birb, she said tweet you later birb
Most People at Some Point
Quotes
Some dude called plucas1 from Youtube comments
Funny, isn't it, that our world needs Clark Kent a lot more than Superman.
Xenoblade Chronicles
Even though he is our creator, that does not afford him the right to take our lives on a whim. But that is the thinking of a homs. He is a god. Such morals cannot apply to gods. So you think we should just shut up and die?! If that is the fate decided by a god. You are mistaken if you think we will simply accept such a fate and wait to die. We'll never stop fighting. Not till the end. To Zanza, the outcome is the same. Thus your logic is flawed.
Hades - Kid Icarus Uprising
When freaky aliens give you lemons, make freaky alien lemonade.
Kid Icarus Uprising
But Souls are delicious. They're like bacon - they taste good on anything. But if you eat them, you completely remove them from existence! They can't move on or... or be reincarnated! Huh. I never really gave it much thought. Besides, what do you mean by reincarnation anyway? You know, being reborn as someone or something else. Which means different body, different memories, different experiences, yes? So isn't being reborn as "something else" the same as being "removed from existence"? I... I... eating souls isn't right! That depends on your definition of "right". All living things survive by eating other living things. So what? You're a god. You should be above all that! Gods are above living things, which doesn't necessarily mean we care about them.
According to Wikipedia, lakes can be saltwater. It is also states: "Seas are generally larger than lakes and contain salt water, but the Sea of Galilee is a freshwater lake. There is no accepted technical definition of "sea" among oceanographers"
yeah its kind of a strange and confussing thing. some lakes are salty, some "seas" are actually lakes, a freshwater sea the size of the Mediterranean is what im trying to get.
just wanted to see if it was feasible. and which mechanisms i could use to make it function as its supposed to be...
Blame is the playing of children and is given to many like a gift that cannot be returned. Acceptance is the tool of the mature that is rarely loaned out.
A sea is a body of water in which there is a Dragon King. There are four seas.
A sea is a body of water in which there is a Dragon King. There are four seas.
That's only if you believe Draconic propaganda. There are seven seas and they are all ruled by a single king. A pirate king.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.
"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming
F.I.N.D.R Field Incident Logs A comprehensive list of all organisms, artifacts, and alternative worlds encountered by the foundation team.
At the present time, concepts within are inconsistent and ever shifting.
Protectorates of the Proan Empire
The Sundered Realms - A fantasy realm where the world is divided into different sections. (Following names subject to change)
The Gavell Kingdom
The Everdark Forest
The Lunar Tundra
The Sand Sea
The Asteroid Cloud
The Rotting Shard
The Orbital River
The Outer Shadow
Bottle Beasts - This Universes version of Pokemon.
Worlds Impacted by the Enlightened/Visceral War
The 'Verse Whale - The Homeworld of the two forces, a planet sized organism, and the unique life that has flourished on it.
замороженный конец - An Ice Age world populated by tripodal organisms.
[To Be Named] - A world of creatures with an arm for a head
[To Be Named] - The Homeworld of a species where only the males are sapient.
[To Be Named] - The home of a race of carnivorous, trap building beings.
[To Be Named] - A planet of organisms that can link their minds, where two forms of intelligence have arisen.
Unaffiliated Universes
[To Be Named] - A parallel earth where the Synapsids took over after the Permian Extinction, among other resulting changes.
نيو نيو امستردام - An abandoned Dyson Cylinder containing an Ecumenopolis now catering to our former pets and pests. (A concept developed entirely separate from DroidSyber's Arcology, I swear.)
The Bleed - A vast universe where physics are more a suggestion than a rule.
Parakosmos Minor - Known Earth Pocket Universes, Natural or Artificial.
Island of Marsupials and Armadillos off the coast of South America
A world inhabited by Woodpecker descendants (Again, not meant to be a clone of Serina, I in no way have that much detail ready for this.)
Katiwala - Your typical Lost World...if i decide to go that route...
Frankly, any lake large enough is a sea, at least to locals (see, Sea of Galilee)
Currently a part of Specworld's revival and The Dark Phoenix's Dinosaur Spec... Still open for idea exchanges and commentaries
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.
My Pets
All of His creations under my responsibility: Planted Tank #1 0.0.5 Corydoras sterbai 0.0.2 Jordanella floridae 0.0.2 Ctenolucius hujeta 0.0.3 Gasteropelecus maculatus 0.0.2 Thorichthys meeki 0.0.2 Mikrogeophagus altispinosus 0.0.3 Rineloricaria spp. L010A 0.0.2 Ctenopoma acutirostre 0.0.2 Uaru ampliacanthoides 0.0.2 Tetraodon nigroviridis 0.0.2 Doryichthys cf. martensii 0.0.2 Agamyxis pectinifrons Countless Melanoides tuberculata currently tipping off the bioload Comment: Cichlid craze! Will have some fishes moved away in the near future, or add some more molluscivores (hoping the puffers work as control)
Turtle Cage #1 0.0.1 Trachemys scripta elegans 0.0.1 Unidentified turtle
Turtle Cage #2 0.0.1 Chelydra serpentina
Apartment Tank 0.0.5 Brachydanio rerio 0.0.5 Tannichthys albonubes 0.0.5 Nannostomus eques 0.0.3 Pseudomugil gertrudae 0.0.1 Carinotetraodon travancoricus 0.0.2 Acantopsis octoactinotos 0.0.3 Corydoras paleatus 0.0.3 Corydoras panda slayer fin 0.0.4 Fundulopanchax gardneri 0.0.1 Gyrinocheilus aymoneri 0.0.2 Hyalobagrus flavus 0.0.1 Dermogenys sp. (hoping to find more) 0.0.4 Neocardina sp. local Amano 0.0.3 Neritina natalensis Comment: This is full-booked, hopefully
out of the off topic material i have figured a small story about the formation of the Freshwater Sea. right now there are two conceptsa about it:
concept A: the central part of the supercontinent is tearing itself apart due to continental drift. the fissure has been enlarging for some million years since and each year it gets larger. many rivers that previously traversed around the continent are being redirected towards the bottom of the fissure. filling it meter per meter. not all of the water remains, and some new tributaries have been born from the water that escapes the fissure, transporting minerals towards the ocean. the salts and other elements left are absorbed by a series of caverns that have formed by the cooled magma and previously present limestone and sandstone, remnants of an ancient sea that was present before the continental fusion.
concept B: the continent joined some million years ago. enclosing a chunk of ocean in the center of it. due to geographical patterns, the landlocked sea has remained unscathed from most tectonical movement. and is one of the few water sources in the middle of the continent. however, its water has been loosing salinity due to several factors. the sedimentary layers at the bottom drain water into caverns, with many sending this water towards the sea. the icecaps send several rivers towards the center of the continent, which release their freshwater on the central sea, causing the creation of many secondary rivers that flow from the sea towards the other parts of the continent before reaching the ocean.
each concept has a different outcome in terms of its ecosystem. concept A would be mainly formed by organisms of freshwater ancestry, while concept B would be formed by organisms of oceanic ancestry which have somehow survived the loss of salinity on the water.