Structure

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Every specific group of blocks purposefully formed in Minecraft based on coding is part of a natural structure.

Video

Generated structures/video

The Overworld

The Overworld contains numerous generated structures, at a wide variety of scales.

Terrain

Biomes dictate the shape and height of the world. At this stage, the ground is made entirely of stone, with water filling in any empty space below layer 63.

Mountains

Mountains are hills with extreme slopes. Prior to the Adventure Update, these highly mountainous landforms were found in all type of biomes, but from the Adventure Update onwards are very rare outside the Extreme Hills biome. They were generated as part of the terrain generation algorithm.

A picture of an extreme hills biome.
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A large overhang, occasionally found in extreme hills biomes.

Floating "Islands"

Floating "islands" are structures that float in midair that are not connected to the ground, the sea, hills or cliffs. Floating "islands" are normally just random pieces of floating dirt and stone found near cliffs, but on rare occasions they can be large, floating structures that even have springs and trees on them. Floating Islands are usually found in the mountain, tundra and Mushroom biomes, but can be found anywhere.

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It is rare to see a naturally occurring, large, floating "island."
Another floating island.

Oceans

Oceans/Seas are huge bodies of water with every single water tile being a source block. The ground can rise high enough to produce small, relatively barren islands. Prior to the Adventure Update, oceans were generated as part of the terrain generation algorithm, but since then they are part of the Ocean biome.

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A picture of an ocean biome.

Rivers

Rivers are long strands of water that cut through or separates biomes. They have no current. Rivers have also been known to be a reliable source of clay. In hilly or mountainous areas, the ground can rise above layer 62, producing a dry riverbed.

The first image of a river released by Notch, with a Huge Mushroom next to it. (Note: Huge Mushrooms don't spawn naturally outside Mushroom biomes.)
A narrow river.
River2.png

A long river with a desert and a forest near to it.

Hills

Hills are randomly generated pieces of land in the map. Like stairs, hills are always traverse-able to their lowest point by virtue of the algorithm which generates them; there is almost always a place on each level from where the next level can be accessed, meaning that the player can climb a hill one level at a time until they reach the top. Cases where this is not true can be rare.

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A randomly-generated hill with some tall grass and trees.

Beaches

Beaches usually generate next to oceans and cover all nearby shorelines. They used to come in two varieties: sand beach and gravel beach. Sandstone is located below sand in sand beaches. Gravel beaches had no such border and thus pose dangers like falling into caverns located right underneath them.

Historical notes: Due to the changes in the terrain generation algorithm in the Beta 1.8 beaches were removed completely from the game. However, as of Snapshot 12w01a and update 1.2, sand beaches have made a return, but the way they look and generate are not the same as before. Gravel beaches did not appear at all in 1.1. After Snapshot 12w07a, the generation of beaches has been greatly improved.

A usual sand beach before Beta 1.8.
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New, re-added beach in 12w01a and update 1.2, with a large pond in it.
Vines creeping down a beach.
A mushroom biome next to a beach.
A gravel beach before 1.8.
Minecraft Beaches.png

A beach near a taiga biome in Update 1.2.4.

Surface

Surface Layers

The uppermost layers of the terrain are converted to a biome-dependent material: usually grass and dirt, or sand in deserts and beaches. Sandstone is generated under sand.

Basins

Occasionally, instead of being converted to dirt or sand, the top layer is stripped away, leaving a 'Basin' of bare stone. There is a common misconception in the community that these are errors, however they are an intended feature. They bear some resemblance to a geological 'shield' (an area of tectonically stable rock that has been exposed to prolonged erosion due to its very old age; it is distinct from the geological term "basin"). They seem to be more common in Forest or Plains, and are sometimes seen filled with water.

Biomes Basin.png

A naturally generated basin landform.

Large structures

Caverns

Caverns are caves and tunnels that are automatically generated under the ground in various places. Caverns are composed mainly of stone, and contain small amounts of ores. For more details, see the Caverns article.

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A dark cave with a Zombie.

Ravines

Ravines are tall, long cracks of air, about 5-20 blocks in height. The width is barely a few blocks, usually no more than 5, sometimes making ravines hard to navigate from below. Ravines can have small ledges along the top, which are possible to travel along. Ravines can be found at any level, and also scarcely appear on the world surface, forming canyons. Such canyons do, from time to time, appear underwater where safe entry is possible. They can go very deep underground, sometimes spawning Slimes or even exposing Diamond Ore.

Ravines can connect to caves, dungeons, abandoned mines, and any other generated structures. Due to the large surface area of their walls, may also have water/lava flowing down them (either from a spring or an underground lake of the lava/water).

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A ravine with a lava river and waterfalls.
Two ravines joined together underground
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A ravine that is open to the sky
A ravine spawned under another ravine
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A ravine covered with snow.

Abandoned Mine Shafts

Abandoned Mine Shafts are structures generated underground that consists of branching mining tunnels with wooden supports, and broken rails passing through it. This is also the only place in Minecraft where venomous Cave Spiders can be found. According to players, it is extremely easy to get lost in the labyrinth if you don't place torches or reminders. As of Minecraft 1.2, open areas generate with bridges instead of leaving floating platforms. They contain chests that may have rare items such as diamonds and Melon Seeds, the latter only being found naturally in mine shafts. They may also contain Iron Ingots, coal, pickaxes, and other useful items. They are likely to expose veins of coal, iron, and gold ore, and rarely, Lapis Lazuli and diamond ore.

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An abandoned mineshaft.
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Floating Abandoned Mine Shaft in a Ravine.

NPC Villages

NPC Villages are generated on flat lands and are a site for NPC Villagers. They are composed of several different houses, farms and often a smithy and/or a tower. Blacksmith buildings will always contain a chest with some useful items in it, such as diamonds or iron tools and armor. The Villagers move about in the area around the village. As of snapshot 12w21a, villages will change appearance and composition depending on the biome they are located in. They are the only structure to generate on the world type Superflat, and being that they require large amounts of flat land, this makes them more abundant. Thus, in a normal world NPC villages are most common in Deserts because it is the flattest biome (after oceans, which is not possible to have NPC villages generated on).

An overhead view of an NPC Village.
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An NPC village generated on water.
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A Village generated on top of a ravine.
A Village generated on a Superflat map. Note that it is larger and more ordered than villages on default.
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A desert Village in 12w21a

Strongholds

Strongholds are structures that contain multiple rooms, doors and other aspects. (Some of these rooms include libraries, fountain rooms, dungeon-like rooms, etc.) Stone brick, Mossy Stone Brick, Cracked Stone Brick, doors, iron bars, and stone slabs are the materials that make up the strongholds. They also contain Silverfish, which one should be careful of when digging around in strongholds. Portals to The End are found in specific rooms in strongholds. Chests may be found containing items such as Books, Redstone, Eye of Ender, Apples, Bread, Compasses, and iron tools/armor.

The first picture of a stronghold. Currently, they are almost entirely underground.

Small Structures

The quantity of most of these features (aside from lakes, mineral veins, and springs) is biome-dependent; not all of them can be found in every biome.

Lakes

Lakes are small bodies of water in which the player is able to swim, and are a large collection of water spring blocks. Lakes can now be generated above sea level or inside caverns, and are small bodies of water surrounded simply by dirt. When in a winter biome, these small lakes are never initially frozen but can turn to ice. These lakes can also be composed of lava; however, lakes of lava are more rare. Lava lakes found at the surface may be surrounded by gravel, stone, and coal ore.

Prior to 1.2, it was possible for lava lakes to spawn 1 block above bedrock, removing the bedrock and replacing it with stone (which on survival could allow access to the void). These were quite rare and difficult to find.

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A lake after the Beta 1.2.6 update compared to the sea level. Since sometime around the Beta 1.2 update, these seem to be much more common than they were before.
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A rarer lake of lava after the Beta 1.2.6 update. Since sometime around the Beta 1.2 update, these seem to be much more common than they were before.
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A water lake in a snowy biome, which is freezing.
LavaLake2.png

A lava lake in a desert biome.
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Underground lakes which generated underwater and hollowed out air pockets in the ocean.
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A forest fire starting because of a natural occurring lava lake.

Dungeons

Dungeons are small, mostly underground, one-room spaces bordered by moss stone and cobblestone, and typically contain chests with rare items, and a hostile Monster Spawner in the center, which guards the chests. The chests may contain rare valuables, such as cocoa beans, music discs, saddles and golden Apples. Rarely, there may be two dungeons generated right next to each other, this can make two dungeons in only about one space. There have also been reports of three or more dungeons in very close proximity to each other. There is a small chance of the dungeon not containing a monster spawner at all, giving the player a chance of free goods early in the game. There is also a small chance of not getting a chest.

A dungeon with a Monster Spawner in the center, and two chests. The torch was placed by the player.

Mineral Veins

A Mineral Vein is a natural deposit of ores. Players can come across these veins in caverns or anywhere where there is natural stone. Underground deposits of dirt and gravel are generated in this step, followed by the more precious ores: Coal, Iron, Gold, Redstone, Diamond, and Lapis Lazuli. They can only form in Stone, and do not replace each other or any other block.

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Multiple ores above a lava lake.
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A coal vein underwater.
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Multiple ore veins in a cave.

Trees

Trees are structures created both by the automatic generation of the map and by players (they grow from saplings). They are made of wood and leaves. Trees can range from small trees, often found in groups, to large trees that may require several minutes to harvest. In Beta 1.2, birch trees and pine trees may be found, and as of the Minecraft 1.2 update, jungle trees may be found. Jungle trees can naturally grow more than a single block thick and have vines growing on them. In the future, Cocoa Plants can be found on them. Saplings can be grown faster by using a bone meal on them.

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A variety of tree types.
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A pine forest.

Huge Mushrooms

Huge Mushrooms are structures that only naturally occur in mushroom biomes. They are composed of mushroom stalks and either red or brown colored blocks for the cap. They can be grown outside Mushroom Islands by fertilizing red or brown mushroom with bone meal, or can be generated with mycelium.

Red and brown huge mushrooms seen on a mushroom island.

Plants

A variety of smaller plants may be generated: Flowers, Tall Grass, Dead Bushes, Lily Pads, Mushrooms, Sugar Cane, Pumpkins, Cactus, and Cocoa Plants.

Springs

Springs are randomly generated blocks of either lava or water that act as a source of their respective material. While both can be found on the vertical side of stone blocks above the surface, lava springs are more often found underground beneath layer 32 in caverns. Both of these sources can be collected and moved via the use of buckets. Springs can only be found in versions from Infdev onward, as fluids behaved differently in older versions.

A lava spring fall from a mountain side.
A lava spring fall flowing into an ocean and turning into stone.
A double lava stream fall.
A water spring falls from a cliff.

Desert Wells

First introduced in 1.2.1, these well-like structures built of sandstone blocks and slabs generate only in the desert biome. Although assumed to be wells, their exact purpose and function is yet to be known. A proposed reason would be for filling buckets with water, since the middle water spring is infinite. They have a 1/1000 chance to be generated in any desert chunk, which makes them a rare sight. It is possible for a well to generate around a cactus.

DesertWell.jpg

The well structure.
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The well structure found near a caved in dungeon.
An excavated well.
Desert well MC.png

Another picture of the well.
2wells.png

Two wells near each other.

Temples

Temples are a kind of naturally generating structure. They contain treasure, but be aware - they also contain traps!

Desert Temples

Desert Temples are a type of structure that occurs naturally in desert biomes as of snapshot 12w21a. Pyramids mostly consist of Wool, Sandstone, Chiseled Sandstone, Smooth Sandstone and Sandstone Stairs. In the middle of the Pyramid is a block of blue wool. Underneath it is a chamber where you can find 4 chests which contain very valuable loot, and a stone pressure plate connected to a 3x3 grid of TNT. Some treasures found in Pyramids include Emeralds, Diamonds, Iron Ingots, Gold Ingots, Rotten Flesh and Bones.

Pyramid - Front.jpg

The front side of a pyramid.
Pyramid - Back.jpg

The inside of a pyramid.

Jungle Temples

Jungle temples were a new structure added in snapshot 12w22a. They contain arrow traps and hidden treasures.

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A Jungle Temple.

The Nether

The Nether, though equally vast, contains far fewer types of generated structures than the Overworld.

Lava Sea

Lava Seas are, as the name suggests, great oceans of lava which are found at and below level 30 in the Nether. They make a large portion of the Nether, and are extremely common. They can stretch for hundreds of meters in any direction, and are usually bordered by Netherrack (or more rarely soul sand). Often, these "seas" have been known to cover an area so vast that even on far render distance, you cannot see the other side.

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A lava sea with Ghasts taking a dip in it.

Nether Fortresses

Nether Fortresses are very large complexes made mainly of nether bricks (with added nether fences and stairs to be found). Due to this, it is very easy to get lost in them and it may be difficult to navigate back to your portals. It is recommended that you use "Breadcrumbs" to find your way back. Nether fortresses can often tunnel through Netherrack, and the inside of the tunnels will be cleared of Netherrack by the terrain generator. You can find Blaze spawners in balconies (distinguished by the stacked Nether Brick Fences and Stairs)and nether wart (on soul sand farms next to other randomly generated Nether Brick Stairs) inside. Note: the blaze spawners can generally be found next to or opposite to each other and it is therefore advised that the player has sufficient armor and tools before they attempt to overrun these spawners because they could get quickly outnumbered.

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A nether fortress generated in the Nether.

Glowstone vein

Glowstone veins are one of the hardest natural materials to harvest. They form on the underside of Netherrack, so they are most often found near the ceiling of the Nether, where a fall is often fatal.

The End

The End is the most barren dimension, with only two types of significant structures.

The Island

Most of the End is a large island composed entirely of End Stone, floating in an endless void.

Obsidian Platform

The obsidian platform is where you spawn once you enter the End. It is a 5x5 square of obsidian with a rail of obsidian to avoid being shoved off by the Enderdragon when spawned.

Sometimes the platform spawns inside a case of Endstone. It will delete enough Endstone so that the player can walk around.
Occasionally the platform will spawn in midair.
Very rarely, the platform will spawn on an obsidian pillar and have an Ender crystal on it.

Obsidian Pillars

Obsidian Pillars, or Obsidian Spikes, are tall, tower-like structures that generate in The End. They first appeared in 1.0.0 with the introduction of The End. No part of them are in the ground; there is no obsidian below the lowest block of obsidian you can see without digging. Ender Crystals will spawn on top of each one to heal the Ender Dragon.

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Obsidian Pillars in The End before Ender Crystals were added. Endermen are also visible.

Removed

References

Environment