Back to the Future: Trampoli Edition

There are a few different landscapes found in Trampoli. The first one we will explore is the Karst landscape found in the caves of Whale Island.

The Whale's back is an allogenic valley, this means that there is soil and vegetation on the surface, but underneath the landscape there may be limestone caverns. Below are pictures of part of the land above the caves:

                                             Photo Credit: Rune Factory Frontier. Marvelous Entertainment USA, Inc and XSeed Games.2007 Nintendo

                                                                                               Pictures taken by: Tiffany Dubois

The little pond shown in the picture on the bottom may be a small doline, or sink hole that feeds the incoming water into the caverns.

Below this surface are limestone caverns. There is some debate about how they are formed. One theory is that the carbonic acid in the groundwater dissolves the limestone. Over time the water table is lowered, leaving the caverns in its wake. Here is a link to an animation that shows this process. Below some photos of some small stalagmites found in the cavern on Whale Island:

                                         Photo Credit: Rune Factory Frontier. Marvelous Entertainment USA, Inc and XSeed Games.2007 Nintendo

                                                                                               Pictures taken by: Tiffany Dubois

These stalagmites are caused by water with calcium carbonate dripping from the ceiling of the caverns and solidifying. 

Trampoil also has a small fluvial system. The stream that runs through the middle of the town is a perennial stream, which flows all year round. As shown in the map of Trampoli below, the first half of the river is following a straight path that the people of the town constructed for it.About half way to the ocean; however, it starts to become a meandering stream.

                                Photo Credit: Rune Factory Frontier. Marvelous Entertainment USA, Inc and XSeed Games.2007 Nintendo

                                                                                               Pictures taken by: Tiffany Dubois

This stream at the moment only has one large point bar, but the Reguna's farm is on a small one. The picture below shows what this point bar looks like. The other side of the stream, where the cut bank is also partly in the picture.

                                  Photo Credit: Rune Factory Frontier. Marvelous Entertainment USA, Inc and XSeed Games.2007 Nintendo

                                                                                               Pictures taken by: Tiffany Dubois

This picture also shows a small knickpoint, and the bottom of a larger one a little higher up that has a small basin.

Since Trampoli is on a coast, the ocean also helps to form the landscape. The picture below shows a few details of a coastal landscape. The small spilling breakers indicate that the ocean floor is very flat. There is also what looks to be a broken jetty, or perhaps a few small sea stacks. Going from the spilling breaker near the top of the photo, it looks like the long shore drift is traveling towards our main character.

 Photo Credit: Rune Factory Frontier. Marvelous Entertainment USA, Inc and XSeed Games.2007 Nintendo

                                                                                               Pictures taken by: Tiffany Dubois

Trampoli in 10, 100, and 1,000 years:


In ten years, not many things in the Trampoli landscape will change. Due to the long shore drift described above, the beach may move a bit south, be taken away completely, or recede a few feet.

If the bottom half stream is allowed to meander naturally by taking out the house in the middle, then a goose-neck will start o form. The below photo shows predicted stream paths in ten years, one hundred years, and one thousand years.

 Photo Credit: Rune Factory Frontier. Marvelous Entertainment USA, Inc and XSeed Games.2007 Nintendo

                                                                                               Pictures taken by: Tiffany Dubois

In 10 years (shown in red), two large goose-necks will form. Towards the right, after the stream splits the small goose-neck will be cut off and form a small oxbow lake. In 100 years, the two larger goose-necks will  be cut-off and made into oxbow lakes. The part of the stream to the right will also be cut off. In time, the knickpoints in the stream will recede due to wear of the water. Some others will also form.

In about 100 years, the platform in the picture below will form a wave-cut notch from the waves in the lake crashing against it. In 1,000 years, it is possible that the tip of the platform (underneath the wave-cut notch) will grow weak from the wearing down and break off.

 Photo Credit: Rune Factory Frontier. Marvelous Entertainment USA, Inc and XSeed Games.2007 Nintendo

                                                                                               Pictures taken by: Tiffany Dubois

The different levels of the wave cut terraces in the photo below indicate where the shore line has been in the past. In 1,000 years it is possible that the shore lowers again by a few feet, a "new" wave cut terrace will come to the surface.