Geology of Kronos
History | Continents | Oceans | Landscape Profiles
Planet Kronos was formed by many planetesimals, solid pieces of rock and metal, colliding with each other until they clumped together to make a huge irregular shaped mass. Once it reached a certain size (something similar to that of the Earth's moon), the insides of the shape began to heat up and make the material, such as the rocks, soft enough to melt and flow. At this point, the gravitational force contoured the melted rocks into a sphere, thus allowing the force of gravity to be the same at all points on its surface.
Kronos dates about 3.3 billion years old. There is no record of the first 400 million years on the planet because it was too hot to leave any type of radiometric clock evidence. The only way the planet dates this far is because of fragments from meteorites that crashed on Kronos and evidence from other near surrounding orbiting bodies. It is believed that during those first 400 million years Kronos was hot because:
gravity squeezed together, or constricted, the matter on the planet; thus increasing the heat.
heavier materials, such as iron, sank towards the center of Kronos, converting the flowing energy into heat.
meteors and residual planetesimals continued slamming into Kronos, due to its gravitational force; converting the kinetic energy into heat.
radioactive elements were decaying
After 400 million years of existence, the planet appeared to cool off dramatically when the surface temperatures reached between 650 and 1,100 degrees Celsius, thus allowing melting rocks to reach the temperature of solidification. When this happened, a thin crust of cooled rock formed on the planet's surface. Soon after, the entire mantle solidified, becoming a thick shell of solid rock. The outermost layers segmented into rigid plates.
The first continental crust started to appear on Kronos' surface when several rocks on the surface started to collide with one another and join and be pushed upward. These crusts have a high percentage of granite, made of a high proportion of silica and aluminum. Soon after, as Kronos was still cooling, the water vapor in the atmosphere condensed to make the oceans that now exist in the planet.
The land mass of the continents cover about 20% of Kronos' surface. There are three continents, called Robea, Melea, and Sulea. There are 6 plate boundaries on Kronos that constantly keep the continents shifting. See the demonstration below about what happens in one of these types of plates.
Robea
Robea is the coldest continent of all three and almost completely covered by ice. It is located about 70 degrees north of the Kronos equator. There is a volcano, Mt. Icee, situated near the northwestern region of Robea, which has been dormant for many thousands of years. It will remain dormant for many thousands of years because it has had no change in heat flow, change in shape, earthquake activity, and increase in steam. The land is almost completely covered by ice, except in the lower land levels of the continent. The high altitudes in this continent are due to the convergent boundary that is located near the northern part of Robea.
Melea
Melea is the largest continent in Kronos. It has a diverse land region, consisting of high mountains and low terrains. Many intriguing geological features of Melea are that it has no volcanoes and consists of two lakes, Lake Esparza and Lake Whittier. Lake Esparza is the biggest lake in Kronos and accounts for a lot of the fresh water that is found in Melea. Lake Whittier is another lake that is located north eastern of Lake Esparza, which probably formed some 432 million years ago. There are also two rivers that flow from Melea out into the ocean.
Sulea
Sulea is the most arid continent in Kronos and is located near the equator. It has one lake, called Lake Biman, located in the north eastern part of the continent. The south eastern part of Sulea has many high-altitude mountains, including the active volcano, Mt. Rosas.
The ocean covers 80% of Kronos' surface. There are two oceans, called Leunam Ocean and Nigiro Ocean. Their ocean depths range from 2,000-3,500 feet below sea level. The sea floor that is between Robea and Sulea is relatively shallower than anywhere else in Kronos. This is due to the divergent plate boundaries, which make the sea floor wider and higher. As a result, a high percentage of sea life is found in this area.
Cross Section of Kronos
