Ore Deposits and Metals by Technological Era and Gemology || Worldbuilding Guide Part 12

Welcome to the next video in my worldbuilding guide series for creating an Earth-like planet! This video is covering ore deposits and gemology, where we will be creating metal resource maps by technological era and a map for our valuable gems.

NOTE this video was originally uploaded on my channel Madeline James Writes on September 4th, 2024.

Worldbuilding Guide Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn7WXgrNpwt9ttq_fcjTBK8PEJHdasrV5

Worldbuilding Guide Blog: https://www.madelinejameswrites.com/worldbuilding-guide

Blog: https://www.madelinejameswrites.com/blog/deposits-and-gemology-extended

DISCLAIMER

This part in the guide (as well as the last one on rock distribution to a lesser extent) has been a massive undertaking. Worldbuilding ore deposits by technological age (which we will get into the importance of later in the guide) is not something that I have found anything similar to across the worldbuilding sphere. Even finding academic resources on this was difficult (but thanks Nikolai for helping me find the textbook of my dreams). This means there was little to no foundational information or processes I could build off of. It took me an intense amount of research and time to figure out how to do this all (as well as a lot of advice, help, and recommendations from real scientists as mentioned earlier), and required me to build my own foundation for this methodology. The result is… lengthy.

My approach has always been to explain the foundational information I am using to create the mapping processes (aka show my work) and provide enough detail that this process can be expanded on/adapted/updated easily by others. While I still hold that this is very important for my method, in this case I do not think it worked out the way I would like (taking what was originally planned to be a single part in the guide to two videos totaling over 2.5 hours of footage).

This guide is dense, lengthy, and a bit academic feeling. While I am extremely proud of my work and this addition to the worldbuilding space, I would argue it does not make for the most easily consumed content. My eventual plan is to create a condensed version of parts 11 and 12 once I have recovered from the ultra-marathon that has been researching, scripting, filming, and editing these. Consider this your extended edition. Until them, do remember that you can skip the lesson portions of these guides if you do not find them enjoyable.

00:00:00 Intro
00:01:21 Understanding Ore Deposits
00:03:25 Hydrothermal/Magmatic Ore Deposits
00:05:36 Individual Deposits by Depth
00:15:13 On mapping ore deposits
00:16:08 History of Mining
00:20:13 Stone Age Intro
00:23:24 Stone Age Mapping
00:24:47 Fuel Sources Mapping
00:29:23 Mapping Principles
00:30:15 Copper Age Intro
00:35:26 Copper Age Mapping
00:46:06 Bronze Age Intro
00:49:49 Bronze Age Mapping
01:06:24 Iron Age Intro
01:08:06 Iron Age Mapping
01:18:02 Industrial Age and Building Materials
01:20:52 Gemology Intro
01:37:58 Gemology Mapping
01:46:02 Conclusion

— Graphics (in order of appearance): —
For those without attributes in the slides (they didn’t all fit in the description): https://www.madelinejameswrites.com/part-12-graphics-attributes

—— LINKS ——
Website: https://www.madelinejameswrites.com/