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Does Scadrial have fossils?


Oltux72

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Elendel has coal plants, coal fired locomotives and cars running on gasoline. Either Harmony or Leras and Ati have been thinking ahead and created coal beds and oil reservoirs when they created and/or remade Scadrial.

But to which lengths did they go? Does Scadrial have fossils? If not, can they ever hope to come up with a theory of evolution? What will that do to the sciences of biology and geology on Scadrial?

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Hmm, I think I saw some WoBs on that, lemme see what I can find

Quote

Cadmium (paraphrased)

You're in Houston, questions of Oil & Gas and energy sources will be naturally be bandied about.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Naturally.

Cadmium (paraphrased)

Is the gasoline on Scadrial a fossil fuel or biodiesel?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Oh. Hmm. Well It's fossil fue... No. What they're using now is mostly biodiesel, I think. It's not something we really talked out.

Cadmium (paraphrased)

Ok, we had a whole thread on 17th Shard and even discussed how scientifically fossil fuels could have been put into place during the Catacendre.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Well, fossil fuels are possible, and I don't want to seem like I'm clearly giving credence to those that believe in a Young Earth, but Scadrial is a relatively young planet. Relatively.

Cadmium (paraphrased)

Young Earth doesn't bother me, though I know I'm not the majority.

Cadmium (paraphrased)

Where on Scadrial is it being produced? No mention of refineries in Elendel or the Roughs.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Where on Scadrial... Well it's... I'm going to have to RAFO that for now. It starts to touch on questions of the future as they will need more fuels for travel and they'll need to look for different sources.

Calamity Houston signing (Feb. 24, 2016)

 

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The automobiles and the gasoline they use are not really that much an issue. That is our modern prejudice speaking. Diesel himself made engines running on peanut oil. That is just a question of cost.

Coal is the major issue. Elendel has millions of inhabitants. Apparently their best guess is around 8 million. Hence the base itself must have tens of millions of inhabitants. You are not going to make all the coal they use out of wood. They are heating their houses. They are running railways on the stuff and smelting enough steel to build tall buildings. That is mined coal.
So what else did the Shards put into the ground?

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I think, given that for a great period of time the ashmounts were spewing ash all up in the atmosphere and all over the planet, it seems likely that more fossils would form in that environment than on Earth. Not that I'm an expert, I just know that when things are buried in such a way that they can't be exposed to oxygen, they're in a much better position to become a fossil.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/09/2020 at 10:39 AM, Narcoleptic Axolotl said:

I think, given that for a great period of time the ashmounts were spewing ash all up in the atmosphere and all over the planet, it seems likely that more fossils would form in that environment than on Earth. Not that I'm an expert, I just know that when things are buried in such a way that they can't be exposed to oxygen, they're in a much better position to become a fossil.

The ashmounts were not old enough. They spewed for 1024 years and yjay started less than 1400 years ago. They'd have a small layer with subfossilized remains and that's it.

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Fossil fuels is a very Earth-centric term for sure, as the source of carbon comes from decomposition of organic matter. Carbon sources for use as fuel however can be made fairly easily! If you have such an understanding of metallurgy a society with Allomancy requires, creating carbon sources for metal refining should be open knowledge.

But then I searched the Mistborn-triology for "coal" and found this in Hero of Ages chapter 26:

Quote

The men spoke of a coal mine, not a gold mine, and the grubmles were the same. Cave-ins. Dangerous gas. Stuffy air and uncaring taskmasters.

So there are some coal mines for sure! It might be that when Scadrial was formed, Ati and Leras copy-pasted so much from other planets that coal sources came along "unintended"..?

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