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Lion's Arch Flooding


Amanda Whitemoon.6173

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something that always bothered me, is that its being said that after Orr rose from the depths, Lion's arch and other areas got flooded.But looking at lion's arch it looks like the entire sealevel rose 10 meters and never went back down.Orr isnt that big compared to the entire oceans, so how come the waterlevel didnt get back to normal?Makes me wonder if something else happened at the same time that caused the entire sealevel to rise up this much.

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I always attributed it to landslides caused by the tidal wave. Lion's Arch was built around sand and soil, not solely bedrock. Same with Droknar's Forge. This would have caused some degree of instability in the land, and could easily cause buildings to shift down into the sea as the waves receded.

IIRC, the structures are in roughly the same positioning, but the ground itself is different.

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@Rognik.2579 said:Logically, the water levels should've risen when Orr sank initially, as more land was going down beneath the waves. Now that the land has risen, I would've thought the water would've retreated as well, instead of flowing in.

Not necessarily. The way the Cataclysm is depicted is as if the land directly sunk downward in an area. If you were to have a tub full of water, and a pillar in the center, then push the pillar down through the base of the tub, there would be less solid volume in the water. This would make the water levels lower. In effect, the ground "beneath" Orr was no longer part of the water's volume. Had the Cataclysm been instead a leveling out where all land below sea level was unaltered, and all land above sea level was pushed into the sea, then it would occur as you say - more land into the sea, causing the sea levels to rise during the Cataclysm.

But really, unless the Cataclysm caused Orr to sink WAY beneath the prior sea floor (which wasn't the case given that parts of Orr remained above sea level), there wouldn't be more than a couple inches change at very most, because we're talking about the ocean. Even a full inch seems a bit much. But both events would cause massive waves as water flowed inward to fill a gap, then flow outward from that gap.

@Rognik.2579 said:Also surprised that only Lion's Arch is mentioned as flooded, but no other location is noted as being affected by the water level change, except maybe the Battle Isles.

Droknar's Forge and Amnoon were also sunk. Similarly, the Olmakhan were struck by it and the tengu have mentioned witnessing the tsunami from Cantha.

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it also may explain why hear nothing from cantha, its probably flooded partly too, meaing that sewerwater is now everywhere in the city.

i know its probably a case of the defs didnt know any better, same with the searoute from Lions Arch to the festival of four winds and Amnoon, that searoute goes through the small bridges build in the straits of devastation, im not sure those big lion's arch ship can pass through that safely

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@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:I always attributed it to landslides caused by the tidal wave. Lion's Arch was built around sand and soil, not solely bedrock. Same with Droknar's Forge. This would have caused some degree of instability in the land, and could easily cause buildings to shift down into the sea as the waves receded.

IIRC, the structures are in roughly the same positioning, but the ground itself is different.

the term is 'thixotrophy' and 'thixotrophic soil'. There are videos on youtube on some examples what happens to structures to build on such ground in an earthquake.

Cities that are build close to a coastline or on former lakes, do have that problem. Earthquakes, tsunamis... they all work. For an example of a city that is in massive danger: Tokio. Another example: Mexico City.

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@Amanda Whitemoon.6173 said:it also may explain why hear nothing from cantha, its probably flooded partly too, meaing that sewerwater is now everywhere in the city.

i know its probably a case of the defs didnt know any better, same with the searoute from Lions Arch to the festival of four winds and Amnoon, that searoute goes through the small bridges build in the straits of devastation, im not sure those big lion's arch ship can pass through that safely

Konig already gave a pretty good explanation. The sea did not actually rise. Lion's Arch sunk. Because some of the soil got swept out - or what I think, got liquified (and flowed down) and the buildings went down.

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@"VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.3618" said:

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:I always attributed it to landslides caused by the tidal wave. Lion's Arch was built around sand and soil, not solely bedrock. Same with Droknar's Forge. This would have caused some degree of instability in the land, and could easily cause buildings to shift down into the sea as the waves receded.

IIRC, the structures are in roughly the same positioning, but the ground itself is different.

the term is 'thixotrophy' and 'thixotrophic soil'. There are videos on youtube on some examples what happens to structures to build on such ground in an earthquake.

Cities that are build close to a coastline or on former lakes, do have that problem. Earthquakes, tsunamis... they all work. For an example of a city that is in massive danger: Tokio. Another example: Mexico City.

Oof, the feeling of the ground in earthquakes on that type of soil... I used to live in Long Beach, CA, and it was eerie.

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