Where does the water go?

[Twenty@20 he/him]

OK, I am going to start an offbeat topic. Roshar is a strange place climatewise. A highstorm a week is pretty rough. And the storms are not even localised as it circles the entire landmass. Do we know how much windspeed do these highstorms develop? I would guess north of 100 kmph atleast over Natanatan and perhaps even Alethkar. Yes, I know that the storms lose their intensity as they move inland. But still I can't even think of such a highstorm occurring even once on Earth which involves an entire country of the size of say Australia. The flooding would be devastating I guess. A worldwide storm a week sounds pretty apocalyptic by itself. At least Alethkar should be in perennial flood control. So where does the water from these floods go? It is unlikely to go underground because of the rocky terrain.

The map of Alethkar in WoK names two rivers. A Windrunner river near Hearth stone (coincidence?) and a Deathbend river near Sebarial's district but we never see any flooding around these river as expected due to increased waterflow. OK over to you guys?

[Oudeis he/him]

As further complication, literally anywhere that the water WOULD drain should quickly clog with crem.

[king of nowhere]

I actually wondered the same question roughly one year ago, and I made some detailed calculation about the water cycle on roshar. The main consensus on water draining was that there must be a huge subterranean draining network. the main evidences of this are a) there

aren't nearly enough rivers otherwise, and the water filling the chasms in the shattered plains must go somewhere.

As for crem sedimentation, I exxpect the whole roshar to be a very dinamic environment. yes, sometimes a draining channel gets clogged by crem. water becomes stagnant, forming a lake. crem fills it, becoming a new plain. meanwhile, somewhere else erosion will open up new channnels. that same process also happens on earth, and every river changes its course with time unless men prevents it, but I expect on roshar the process would be faster.

[Twenty@20 he/him]

I actually wondered the same question roughly one year ago, and I made some detailed calculation about the water cycle on roshar. The main consensus on water draining was that there must be a huge subterranean draining network. the main evidences of this are a) there

aren't nearly enough rivers otherwise, and the water filling the chasms in the shattered plains must go somewhere.

As for crem sedimentation, I exxpect the whole roshar to be a very dinamic environment. yes, sometimes a draining channel gets clogged by crem. water becomes stagnant, forming a lake. crem fills it, becoming a new plain. meanwhile, somewhere else erosion will open up new channnels. that same process also happens on earth, and every river changes its course with time unless men prevents it, but I expect on roshar the process would be faster.

Thanks for the link. I went back and read your posts. The idea of underground aquifers is probably the best explanation for water drainage. Also your ideas about crem and water cycle are interesting. I wonder if crem like stormlight is part of the Investiture in the Highstorm since crem has been reported to help in faster growth of plants and it is absent during normal rains.

I agree with you Brandon must be a genius to able to worldbuild so meticulously.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Twenty@20

[JimmyTMalice he/him]

I think crem is a brilliant idea. The frequent highstorms on Roshar would obviously erode the stone incredibly quickly, but crem eventually hardens into stone and resists the effects of erosion.

[king of nowhere]

I'm wondering about the cycle of crem. crem is solid, heavier than water. what do not acccumulates on the continent goes to the bottom of the sea. on earth, similar materials go back in the cycle when plte tectonics uplift the sea floor to form mountains, but roshar is geologically inert. so where does the crem come from? how does it go in the air?