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An approximation can be obtained quite simply by dividing the volume of water in the oceans by the surface area of an ellipsoid with a smooth surface representing the idealized Earth in your question. The volume of Earth's oceans, seas and bays is $1.332 \times 10^9 \text{ km}^3$. The equatorial radius of Earth (semi-major axis of the spheroid) is \$a = ...

10

One needs breathable air, drinkable water, and food to survive. Food as we know it was nonexistent prior to the Ediacaran, which began about 635 million years ago. Life was exceedingly primitive (single celled) prior to that. Breathable air is a more significant challenge. A breathable atmosphere means sufficient oxygen and not too much carbon dioxide. ...

6

The causes vary around the world, but we can make some generalizations. Seasonal floods mean that there's more water coming in than going out for only part of the year. If it's annual, the changes are probably related to annual weather patterns in precipitation, temperature, or both. Some big sub-cases are: (a) in Mediterranean climates, e.g. California, ...

5

510,100,000 square kilometers of surface area, and a total of 1,386,000,000 cubic kilometers of water gives you a 2.717 kilometer column of water across the whole planet if it was billiard ball smooth, but the same basic shape.

4

Obsidian is volcanic glass of felsic composition (i.e. SiO2-rich) whereas basalt is a volcanic rock which may or may not be (partially) glassy of mafic composition (i.e. SiO2-poor). So when you're saying obsidian as opposed to basalt ...you're comparing apples and oranges. So instead of discussing obsidian versus basalt, let's discuss phaneritic versus ...

3

Consider ocean waves in the middle of a large ocean. They are being powered by the wind, but also lose energy due to viscosity, breaking and similar factors. Since the timescale for a wave changing is much smaller than the timescale of it crossing an ocean, for all practical purposes they already experience an infinite ocean. A featureless ocean world ...

2

I would say the most relevant factor involved would be Radiative cooling, with ground areas closer to the buildings not losing as much heat energy as the buildings act to reflect some of the radiation back keeping those areas frost free, while open exposed areas lose more energy and experience frost.

2

Do you know any climate-based forums on-line that don't focus on our current climate change crisis and allow hard science on fictional climatic patterns? I wish there was one like that, but if you want quality information you need to reach knowledgeable people, and most of them don't have the time to sit around on these forums. They're too busy doing ...

1

sliced (like glass window) Window glass is not sliced into sheets. It is made as sheets from the beginning. Since you're looking for a naturally occurring mineral that can be made into a glass-like material, look no further than muscovite. Because your planet has nice and big crystals, it most likely come from pegmatites, which is a type of rock that has ...

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