World Building - Very Shallow Sea?

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Tom H.

I'm curious about the motive or purpose you have envisioned to require such a shallow sea?

Something I saw in a dream and thought might be an interesting bit of worldbuilding...

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Toptomcat

To everyone saying that tides would neccesarily make a sea that’s six feet deep on average alternately drain itself and swell to twice the depth: we’re worldbuilding, right? Surely the magnitude of the tides depends on the mass and proximity of the moon, which is a parameter we’re free to fiddle with. Smaller moon, smaller tides.

The magnitude of the tides is actually not all that strongly connected to the gravitational effect of the moon (or sun). Those ultimately *drive* the tides, but the magnitude they build to is pretty unrelated to how high the change in gravity would lift the water. In bodies of water where there isn't enough flow from the world ocean to allow those sorts of large resonance driven changes, tides don't get very high. Those in the Mediterranean apparently never exceed 30 cm, in the Great Lakes it's 5 cm (less than the fluxuations from air pressure variations!). And those are certainly large enough bodies of water to plausibly be called seas.

To some extent the question is less about the water than it is about the sea bed. How many large stretches of *land* are there where there is no variation in elevation over a similar area? It's not so much there is a problem with large stretches of shallow water as with large stretches of really flat ground. There are some good sized ones, and quite often they are in fact permanently or intermittently covered with shallow water, but they're marshes rather than seas - see the Everglades or the Rann of Kutch or the Amazon basin for examples.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by malloyd

How many large stretches of *land* are there where there is no variation in elevation over a similar area? It's not so much there is a problem with large stretches of shallow water as with large stretches of really flat ground. There are some good sized ones, and quite often they are in fact permanently or intermittently covered with shallow water, but they're marshes rather than seas - see the Everglades or the Rann of Kutch or the Amazon basin for examples.

I would think of salt lakes, like Lake Eyre. It's 3600 sq mi and mostly flat, and floods to 5 feet every 3 years or so.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by malloyd

To some extent the question is less about the water than it is about the sea bed. How many large stretches of *land* are there where there is no variation in elevation over a similar area? It's not so much there is a problem with large stretches of shallow water as with large stretches of really flat ground. There are some good sized ones, and quite often they are in fact permanently or intermittently covered with shallow water, but they're marshes rather than seas - see the Everglades or the Rann of Kutch or the Amazon basin for examples.

So you could probably solve this with an organism that creates shallow lagoons instead of marshes: marshes are very much made by the life that lives within them.

[PTTG]

Originally Posted by ericthered

So you could probably solve this with an organism that creates shallow lagoons instead of marshes: marshes are very much made by the life that lives within them.

That's a good idea. Add a tree that grows in regularly-sized groves and has a complicated root system that holds islands up above the water while leveling out the shallow seas around it.

[AlexanderHowl]

Alternatively, you could have vast networks of vegation that comes together to create marshy 'land' (actually their intertwined root system) on top of much deeper oceans. The shallow 'sea' would only be the water that the plants allow above their roots, and their roots could extend hundreds of meters below the surface in order to access nutrients and to provide more buoyancy with them sprouting 'trees' to improve wind resistance and photosynthesis. The resulting 'sea' could cover thousands of square kilometers and support thriving ecosystems on multiple levels (below the roots, among the roots, within the shallow 'sea', and among the 'trees').

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

I would think of salt lakes, like Lake Eyre. It's 3600 sq mi and mostly flat, and floods to 5 feet every 3 years or so.

Though that's sort of reversing cause and effect; the reason it's so flat is because it was originally a lake bed.

[Dalin]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Alternatively, you could have vast networks of vegation that comes together to create marshy 'land' (actually their intertwined root system) on top of much deeper oceans. The shallow 'sea' would only be the water that the plants allow above their roots, and their roots could extend hundreds of meters below the surface in order to access nutrients and to provide more buoyancy with them sprouting 'trees' to improve wind resistance and photosynthesis. The resulting 'sea' could cover thousands of square kilometers and support thriving ecosystems on multiple levels (below the roots, among the roots, within the shallow 'sea', and among the 'trees').

I love this idea and the OP's idea. Must finish this desert adventure and add some cool oceans to the map. Although, to maximize the possibilities of your floating vegetation, it might be best on a dedicated water world. I love the idea of arboreal cultures, seafaring cultures, and creatures that only live below the roots in the darkness.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

....catgirl swishybocklers....

I will now forever replace "swashbucklers" with this word. "Time to bockle your swish!" makes a lot more sense.

(The proceeding has been a joke.)

[dcarson]

Originally Posted by Dalin

I love this idea and the OP's idea. Must finish this desert adventure and add some cool oceans to the map. Although, to maximize the possibilities of your floating vegetation, it might be best on a dedicated water world. I love the idea of arboreal cultures, seafaring cultures, and creatures that only live below the roots in the darkness.

Two good books for inspiration

Demon Breed by James Schmitz
collected in The Hub: Dangerous Territory which is on the Windriders Oath free Baen CD


Blue World by Jack Vance