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Ground layer

2026-04-05, 231 words, backlink: Emergence

The ground layer, colloquially known as dirtside, is the surface that Earth had for most of its history.[Disputed] It is the highest layer in the groundline, and the most geographically stable.[1] The ground layer is typically the most populous layer, although this varies by region, and population movements have been trending upwards.

The ecology of the ground layer is still recovering from a drastic reduction in sunlight caused by the rise of the skyline. Umbral flora dominates the ecosystem, but small populations of solar flora remain and grow explosively when exposed by a levitation failure (409). In volcanic areas, bacterial mats and symbiotic host plants support new biomes of adapted flora and fauna.[2] Large unadapted fauna is rare, with smaller species faring much better in their new environment. Birds have done best, often feeding in higher layers and returning to the ground layer to roost. Squirrels are doing fine.[Importance]

Earthquakes are common in the groundline, outside of geologic shields, but typically originte in deeper layers. The ground layer sees a minimum of volcanic activity, but hotspots opened by the rise of natural skyscrapers (184) still spill out onto the surface. Columnar joining is incredibly common and geometrically exact at these hotspots, predominantly forming hexagonal columns although more complex tiling patterns have been observed.[3]

  1. Subterranean drift (112) in the lower groundline
  2. Boiling moose (91)
  3. Snub square tiling in columnar jointed volcanics at Big Willis (67)