Terrain features

This page lists generated terrain features that are created in a Minecraft world.

Overworld[]

Hill[]

Hills can contain extreme slopes, cliffs and caves. On an amplified world, hills are extremely common in all biomes except oceans.

A Windswept Hills biome.
A large overhang occasionally found in Windswept Hills biomes.
A Windswept Hills overhang with a floating island.

Mountain[]

Mountains are high elevation terrain that has jagged peaks and higher land.

Cliff[]

Cliffs are steep vertical slopes that can sometimes generate beside an ocean or a big lake.

A frozen cliff.
A cliff generating shaped like a crater.

Fjord[]

Fjords happen when rivers cut through high-medium elevation terrain. Rivers are deeper here than usual.

A badlands fjord.

Floating island[]

Floating islands are structures that float in mid-air. Floating islands are normally just small chunks of floating dirt and stone found near cliffs, but on rare occasions they can be large structures that even have springs and trees on them. Floating islands are most frequently found in windswept hills biomes and their variants, as well windswept savannas.

A small floating island.
It is rarer to see large floating islands, especially those with natural features such as trees.
A cluster of large floating islands.
A small but tall floating island with water flowing down from it.
A floating island in a forest biome with a few trees growing on it.
A tree on a snowy floating island.

Noise cave[]

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Surface[]

Surface layer[]

The uppermost layers of the terrain are converted to a biome-dependent material: usually grass blocks and dirt, or sand in deserts and beaches. Podzol is found in giant tree taiga, mycelium in mushroom field biomes, and red sand is found in the badlands biome. Sandstone is generated under the sand.

Erosion[]

Occasionally, instead of being converted to dirt or sand, the top layer is stripped away, leaving an 'erosion' (aka. 'basin') of bare stone. They occur more often in forests or plains and occasionally contain water. Commonly, minerals can be found in these, generally coal ore and iron ore. If generated in a Badlands biome, gold ore can also be seen.

A naturally generated erosion.
A desert erosion.
A taiga erosion.
A snow-covered tundra erosion.

Strip[]

Strips are long stretches of blocks in certain biomes that replace the typical surface materials in these biomes. They can occur in stony shore biomes as strips of gravel, in stony peaks biomes as strips of calcite, in frozen peaks biomes as strips of packed ice, as well as in grove and snowy slopes biomes as strips of powder snow.

A strip of calcite in a stony peaks biome.
A strip of gravel in a stony shore biome.

Hoodoo[]

Hoodoos are tall spike-like structures found in badlands, consisting of six colors of terracotta. While this structure is found exclusively in eroded badlands, all badlands biomes actually have this structure, but set to false except for eroded badlands and can occasionally pass altitude layer 100.

Hoodoos in an eroded badlands biome.
Hoodoos in a Mesa Bryce biome in an older version of Minecraft.
Hoodoo render.

Iceberg[]

An iceberg is a large terrain feature composed of packed ice and snow block. There is also a feature known as an iceberg, see Iceberg (feature).

Icebergs generate in frozen oceans and deep frozen oceans. They consist of packed ice, and can be topped with snow block. Icebergs generate in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from small islands to giant mountain-like icebergs. They can also generate with cave-like holes in them, which sometimes pass through to the other side of the iceberg.

There are often blue ice features attached to them.

The first screenshot of icebergs.
A group of naturally generated icebergs.
An aerial view of a frozen ocean with icebergs.
An iceberg viewed from below.
A village close to some icebergs.
A cave inside an iceberg.

Carvers[]

Carver caves – large tunnels found underground in the Overworld and the Nether.
Canyons – deep long cracks

Others[]

Ore vein: A long streak of ore and rock.

The Nether[]

Lava sea[]

Lava seas are found at and below level 31 in the Nether. They make a large portion of the Nether and are extremely common. They can stretch for hundreds of blocks in any direction, and are usually bordered by netherrack, or occasionally soul sand, gravel and/or magma blocks. Striders can spawn in lava seas.

Unlike with Overworld oceans, lava seas are not handled as a biome.^[1]

A few ghasts swimming in a lava sea.

Nether erosions[]

In the Nether, erosions generate the same size and shape as they do in the Overworld. Unlike their Overworld counterparts, however, Nether erosions replace the ground with netherrack instead of stone. Nether erosions can also expose ores, mainly nether quartz ore and nether gold ore.

Notably, erosions generate independent of the y-coordinate; if a erosion generates in an overhang in the Nether, an identical erosion is guaranteed to generate at the exact same x and z coordinates on the ground below such an overhang.

An erosion in a crimson forest, exposing nether quartz ore blob.
An erosion in a warped forest.
An erosion in a nether wastes.

Carver[]

Carver caves – large tunnels found underground in the Overworld and the Nether.

The End[]

Central island[]

The center of the End is a large, asteroid-like island composed entirely of end stone, floating in the void. At a distance of 1000 blocks away, an endless expanse of more islands begins, away from the main island. These consist of large islands, about the size of the main island, and smaller ones, which are usually thin and small.

Central island with a lone enderman.

Outer island[]

The outer end islands are found 1000 blocks away from the central island. They vary in size from large islands to smaller "mini islands". Generated structures such as end cities and end ships spawn here, along with chorus plants and erosions. The player can be taken to the end islands through the end gateway.

Outer islands with chorus trees.

Obsidian platform[]

The obsidian platform is a square of obsidian that generates when an entity enters the End.

End erosions[]

Erosions generate in the End as they would in the Overworld and the Nether, with the exception being that they never expose any ores. End erosions may generate on both the central island and outer islands, and chorus plants can occasionally take root in the erosions.

An End Erosion generated on the main island of the End.
An End Erosion generated on an outer End island.

History[]

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Reason: move features to Feature

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Please update this section to reflect recent updates or newly available information.
Reason: Add all 1.17-1.19 terrain feature

Java Edition pre-Classic
Cave game tech test					Development on "Cave Game" started; caverns added.
Java Edition Classic
0.0.12a					Added ocean around map.
0.0.14a					Added trees. At this point they were simply stumps covered with a thin leaf layer.
0.0.15a (Multiplayer Test 1)					Trees have a new shape.
August 25, 2009					Video uploaded showing changed cavern generation; longer and narrower caverns, and bigger caves the deeper you travel.
August 25, 2009					Surface lava lakes shown to be possible but unlikely, despite existing as early as 0.0.12a_03.
Java Edition Infdev
20100227-1					Temporarily removed caves, trees and ores to test basic infinite world functionality.
20100320					Re-added trees and ores.
20100325					Re-added caves.
20100325					Redid mineral blobs
20100327					Caves are removed again.
20100616					Caves are now again implemented.
Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.1					Caves can now be far bigger and more expansive.
v1.2.0		preview			Added the Nether but not all Nether-related generated structures.
v1.2.6					Added small lakes and rare lava pools, both on the surface and randomly in caves.
Java Edition Beta
1.8		Pre-release			Added huge mushrooms.
					Added river biomes and vast oceans.
					Sand and gravel beaches removed due to the changes in the terrain generation algorithm.
Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4			Added the End and End-related main island generated structures, including the End island, the obsidian platform, the end spikes and the exit portal.
1.1		12w01a			Sand beaches have made a return, but the way they look and generate are not the same as before.
1.2.1		12w07a			The generation of beaches has been greatly improved.
1.6.1		13w17a			Water oases no longer generate in deserts.
1.7.2		13w36a			Gravel beaches have been returned to the terrain.
					Mountains now generate as part of the "M" biome variants.
					The desert oases appear in the desert M biome.
					Moss stone boulders were added.
1.9		15w31a			Added the outer islands of the End.
					Added chorus plants.
					Added the end gateway portal.
1.13		18w08a			Caves and canyons can now generate underwater.
		18w08a			Frozen Ocean have made a return, but without customized, they look and generate, but are not the same unused.
		18w10d			Added coral reefs.
		18w15a			Added icebergs.
1.16		20w06a			Added basalt pillars.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.1.0					Added sand and gravel beaches, oceans, frozen oceans, cliffs, mountains, erosions, blobs, springs, and trees.
v0.9.0		build 1			Added caves, lava pools, rivers, huge mushrooms, moss stone boulders, ice patches, and ice spikes.
					Frozen oceans no longer generate.
					Removed gravel beaches.
v0.12.1		build 1			Added the Nether, along with lava oceans, glowstone clusters, soul sand beaches, hidden lava, gravel beaches, and nether quartz blobs.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0		alpha 0.17.0.1			Added the End and End-related generated structures, including the End islands, the obsidian platform, the obsidian towers, the end fountain, end cities, end gateways, and chorus trees.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0		beta 1.2.0.2			Added ravines.
1.4.0		beta 1.2.14.2			Added icebergs.
					Added coral reefs.
					Ravines can now generate underwater.
					Frozen oceans have made a return, but the way they look and generate are not the same as before.
		beta 1.2.20.1			Caves can now generate underwater.
1.16.0		beta 1.16.0.51			Added basalt pillars.
Legacy Console Edition
TU5	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added ravines.
TU5					Sand and gravel beaches removed due to the changes in the terrain generation algorithm.
TU9					Added the End along with End-related structures such as the End island, the obsidian platform, the obsidian towers, and the end fountain.
TU9					Sand beaches have made a return, but the way they look and generate is not the same as before.
TU19	CU7	1.12			Water oases no longer generate in deserts.
TU69	CU7	1.76	Patch 38		Added coral reefs and underwater caves and ravines.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
1.7.10					Added chorus plants.