God's Eye: An Ancient Asteroid Impact Crater?

[StarkofWinterfell]

(I know this isn't one of your standard "omg who will <insert X> marry!" threads but let's take a trip down imagination lane)

Let's examine God's Eye for a second. How'd it form? Your standard geological processes have a slim chance of forming a lake with an island in the middle. I propose the possibility that God's Eye was formed from an ancient asteroid impact. How you say?

Consider the presence of complex impact craters in our solar system. If there is a large enough impact on land that has some elasticity, a complex crater is formed.

Simple vs. Complex Craters

In layman's terms, the force of the impact causes the land in the center to uplift in an attempt to return to its previous state. If at any point that crater then fills with water, you'll have what appears to be a large lake with an island in the middle. We have an example of this on Earth in the form of Mistastin Lake in Canada and it is similar in morphology to God's Eye (pictured below)

Mistastin Lake

So with this small bit of evidence in mind, what do you think? Is God's Eye an ancient complex impact crater?

I will even go so far as to propose this as an alternative to what caused the Long Night. A large enough impact would send ejecta into the atmosphere and block out the sun for a time.

[Daendrew]

Brilliant.

[Burning down the House]

I like the part of the long night being caused by an impact. 

[The Ice Wolf of Loki]

The COTF shattered the arm of Dorne and flooded the Neck, creating a lake around what seems to have been their magical fortress would be child's play (pardon the pun).

[sciteacher]

3 hours ago, StarkofWinterfell said:

(I know this isn't one of your standard "omg who will <insert X> marry!" threads but let's take a trip down imagination lane)

Let's examine God's Eye for a second. How'd it form? Your standard geological processes have a slim chance of forming a lake with an island in the middle. I propose the possibility that God's Eye was formed from an ancient asteroid impact. How you say?

Consider the presence of complex impact craters in our solar system. If there is a large enough impact on land that has some elasticity, a complex crater is formed.

Simple vs. Complex Craters

In layman's terms, the force of the impact causes the land in the center to uplift in an attempt to return to its previous state. If at any point that crater then fills with water, you'll have what appears to be a large lake with an island in the middle. We have an example of this on Earth in the form of Mistastin Lake in Canada and it is similar in morphology to God's Eye (pictured below)

Mistastin Lake

So with this small bit of evidence in mind, what do you think? Is God's Eye an ancient complex impact crater?

I will even go so far as to propose this as an alternative to what caused the Long Night. A large enough impact would send ejecta into the atmosphere and block out the sun for a time.

What you suggest is possible --- but I think most of us have been seriously overlooking the importance of volcanic features in Westeros. I think God's Eye Lake with it's Isle of Faces island looks like a caldera lake. Like Crater Lake or Laguna Cuicoha

[Ice Turtle]

3 hours ago, sciteacher said:

What you suggest is possible --- but I think most of us have been seriously overlooking the importance of volcanic features in Westeros. I think God's Eye Lake with it's Isle of Faces island looks like a caldera lake. Like Crater Lake or Laguna Cuicoha

This. It have never occurred to me before, but as soon as I read this thread's title I thought: Well, that's possible, though I doubt it will be relevant for the story. Why does the OP thinks so? Does it look like a crater? Possibly, though it resembles caldera too, I think. I should google it. Volcanic activity is related to dragons in the books, that could be story relevant.

Of course, I was too lazy and decided to actually read the thread first. You saved me time LOL.

It could be based on an impact crater or volcanic activity, it should be just an inspiration or inside joke. If it's story relevant it's more likely to be volcanic. Volcanic activity seems to be related to dragon. I do not rule out possibility that Others can be actually aliens, but there is nothing hinting to that, aside maybe of their preferred environment. Only think related to a meteor seems to be Dawn and house Dayne, but castle Starfall is in Dorne, still it gives food for though.

[Maester of Valyria]

11 hours ago, sciteacher said:

What you suggest is possible --- but I think most of us have been seriously overlooking the importance of volcanic features in Westeros. I think God's Eye Lake with it's Isle of Faces island looks like a caldera lake. Like Crater Lake or Laguna Cuicoha

The problem I have with it being volcanic is that the Riverlands are pretty flat, and there's no indication that you have to climb at all to get to the God's Eye, as you would if it were a volcanic crater. There is plenty of evidence for volcanism in Westeros, and also for the Children to be capable of manipulating it.

 

For the OP: yes, it's certainly possible. LmL's theory says that the God's Eye is one of many impact craters from when the second moon exploded, and we know of meteorites in the past (Dawn). However I think it's more likely that it's either magical or natural.

You might find this interesting: God's Eye is mentioned near the bottom

[LordToo-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse]

Lucifer means Lightbringer... where are you?

[Ygrain]

48 minutes ago, LordToo-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse said:

Lucifer means Lightbringer... where are you?

Whistling for the devil?

Impact crater is a very good idea, the chunks of the cracked moon wouldn't have hit only one area.

[StarkofWinterfell]

17 hours ago, sciteacher said:

What you suggest is possible --- but I think most of us have been seriously overlooking the importance of volcanic features in Westeros. I think God's Eye Lake with it's Isle of Faces island looks like a caldera lake. Like Crater Lake or Laguna Cuicoha

The problem with being a caldera lake though is that a caldera lake would still have the sides of the volcano around the edge, whereas with an impact crater, those would be more shallow and easily eroded over time. Not to say that that same thing can't occur with a caldera lake either.

I am not always looking for something story relevant though.

5 hours ago, Maester of Valyria said:

The problem I have with it being volcanic is that the Riverlands are pretty flat, and there's no indication that you have to climb at all to get to the God's Eye, as you would if it were a volcanic crater. There is plenty of evidence for volcanism in Westeros, and also for the Children to be capable of manipulating it.

 

For the OP: yes, it's certainly possible. LmL's theory says that the God's Eye is one of many impact craters from when the second moon exploded, and we know of meteorites in the past (Dawn). However I think it's more likely that it's either magical or natural.

You might find this interesting: God's Eye is mentioned near the bottom

This is interesting although to be representative of glacier activity, I think more along the lines of the finger lakes in NY that were formed from a glacier carving through the land resulting in lakes that look like "fingers."

 

[yeomanry]

Check this image: http://images1.tickld.com/live/97942.jpg

Taal lake, is a lake with an island in the middle which has a lake that also houses an island on an island in an archipelago in the pacific ocean. How's that?

 

[AureliusAmbrosius]

On 4/17/2016 at 1:43 AM, sciteacher said:

What you suggest is possible --- but I think most of us have been seriously overlooking the importance of volcanic features in Westeros. I think God's Eye Lake with it's Isle of Faces island looks like a caldera lake. Like Crater Lake or Laguna Cuicoha

Yeah, I always figured it was a caldera. I was researching super-volcanos to try to figure out if Martin Valyria was something like the Deccan Traps (maybe starts with a pretty big explosion, but mainly just oozing lava all over for a hundred years. Turns out, its pretty much gotta be nonsense-magic.) 

Super ancient caldera, though. Takes a while for a weirwood grove to grow.

Also, it's very obviously based on Ynys Mon. When the Romans (Valyrians) conquered Britain, Anglesey was the holiest Druidic grove in the entire British world. Took them a couple centuries to conquer their way there, but the Romans ended up killing the mass of civilians trying stop them, and then burning it to ash (see, Romans had dragons, too). In fact, there's something to the theory that Boudica's rebellion was, in part, either a response to or an attempt to stop that event.

This goes to a larger thing about how the First Men are basically just the Celtic peoples, and the Andals are thinly disguised Anglo-Saxons, and the entire history of Westeros is basically just the history of Britannia, except with no invasion by Caesar/Claudius, but an invasion by Syagrius the Dragonlord. Then, just flip the positions of Hadrian's Wall (The Wall) and the Antonine Wall (The Neck), replace the Manx and a chunk of the Irish Raiders (Deisi, e.g.) of post-Roman Wales with the Ironborn, take the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands and move them closer to London, which was the first Roman colonia in Britain (Dragonstone, Driftmark, Claw Isle, and King's Landing). 

As evidenced by his handling of Nymeria, GRRM is drawing more from the scholarly interpretation of yesteryear, but yeah, basically, always look for pre-Roman British equivalents of Westerosi geographical features.

 

Source: I'm a quasi-respectable member of the Winter King modding team for CKII. Cornwell & Martin are two of my favorite fantasy authors, so I basically stare at the CKII-mod maps of their worlds all day.

[Maester of Valyria]

19 hours ago, StarkofWinterfell said:

This is interesting although to be representative of glacier activity, I think more along the lines of the finger lakes in NY that were formed from a glacier carving through the land resulting in lakes that look like "fingers."

 

I'm sorry; do you mean Daggar Lake near Ny Sar? There is plenty of evidence for glacial action in Westeros, but it's not quite as plausible in Essos.

[Valens]

Is God's Eye Lough Neagh in reality? Because its' original name means the lake of Eachaidh, which were a group of Irish gods. Neagh is the largest lake in the Isles also, same as God's Eye is largest in Westeros.

[StarkofWinterfell]

5 hours ago, yeomanry said:

Check this image: http://images1.tickld.com/live/97942.jpg

Taal lake, is a lake with an island in the middle which has a lake that also houses an island on an island in an archipelago in the pacific ocean. How's that?

 

That appears to be more of a caldera lake as a result of volcanic activity. there is no evidence you have to climb up the island in the middle of God's Eye. 

In that picture, that very clearly represents a volcanic cone. 

[Lychnidos]

The God's Eye is circa 135 km East to West, and 200 km North to South, if it is a crate,r compared to the ones on Earth it enters the top 3. The third place is held by the one that killed the dinosaurs, and is comparable in size with a diameter of 180 km, the first and second place happened some 2 billion years ago, so not much is known of their impact.

Anyway the whole discussion is absurd, because it simply doesn't fit the story, and even GRRM has stated multiple times that the Long Night is magical in origin.

[Valens]

1 minute ago, Lychnidos said:

The God's Eye is circa 135 km East to West, and 200 km North to South, if it is a crater compared to ones on Earth it enters the top 3. The third place is held by the one that killed the dinosaurs, and is comparable in size with a diameter of 180 km, the first and second place happened some 2 billion years ago, so not much is known of their impact.

Anyway the whole discussion is absurd, because it simply doesn't fit the story, and even GRRM has stated multiple times that the Long Night is magical in origin.

Lychnidos is also a name of a lake, today called Ohrid. But you surely knew that. One of three oldest lakes in the world.

[StarkofWinterfell]

1 hour ago, Lychnidos said:

The God's Eye is circa 135 km East to West, and 200 km North to South, if it is a crate,r compared to the ones on Earth it enters the top 3. The third place is held by the one that killed the dinosaurs, and is comparable in size with a diameter of 180 km, the first and second place happened some 2 billion years ago, so not much is known of their impact.

Anyway the whole discussion is absurd, because it simply doesn't fit the story, and even GRRM has stated multiple times that the Long Night is magical in origin.

I don't care really if it fits the story. We're talking about the entirety of the ASOIAF universe here and worldbuilding. If TWOIAF is anything, it's an attempt to flesh out universe that GRRM has created.

Does everything have to be plot relevant for you? Can't things just be like "wow, that's cool!"

[Ygrain]

1 hour ago, Lychnidos said:

Anyway the whole discussion is absurd, because it simply doesn't fit the story, and even GRRM has stated multiple times that the Long Night is magical in origin.

Well... and cracking the moon and the like cannot be achieved by means of magic? I don't think that "celestial" and "magic" must be mutually exclusive.

[Dorian Martell]

On 4/17/2016 at 6:41 PM, StarkofWinterfell said:

(I know this isn't one of your standard "omg who will <insert X> marry!" threads but let's take a trip down imagination lane)

Let's examine God's Eye for a second. How'd it form? Your standard geological processes have a slim chance of forming a lake with an island in the middle. I propose the possibility that God's Eye was formed from an ancient asteroid impact. How you say?

Consider the presence of complex impact craters in our solar system. If there is a large enough impact on land that has some elasticity, a complex crater is formed.

Simple vs. Complex Craters

In layman's terms, the force of the impact causes the land in the center to uplift in an attempt to return to its previous state. If at any point that crater then fills with water, you'll have what appears to be a large lake with an island in the middle. We have an example of this on Earth in the form of Mistastin Lake in Canada and it is similar in morphology to God's Eye (pictured below)

Mistastin Lake

So with this small bit of evidence in mind, what do you think? Is God's Eye an ancient complex impact crater?

I will even go so far as to propose this as an alternative to what caused the Long Night. A large enough impact would send ejecta into the atmosphere and block out the sun for a time.

It could also be a glacial lake carved out during an ice age, when the sea level would be lower making a land bridge between two continents