Biomes

According to Wikipedia, biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems.

Biome types

The biomes depend on the map generator used. Most map generators have the same biomes, but v6 is different.

v5, v7, valleys, flat, fractal

Biomes in these map generators are defined by mods. If these are not defined, these map generators only generate stone worlds. Biomes in these map generators are not linked to the terrain shape; this means any biome (including grasslands) can form in flat or very mountainous areas. This section shows the biomes used by Minetest Game.

Name and Features	Description	Images
Grassland Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Grass, Grass, Flower, Bush Leaves, Bush Stem	Grassland has large amounts of Dirt nodes and Dirt with Grass blocks, on which flowers, Grass and bushes may appear naturally in this area. The underground is made of stone.	Plains biome, as of 0.4.15
Coniferous forest Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Grass, Pine Tree, Pine Needles, Grass, Flower, Red Mushroom, Brown Mushroom	Coniferous forests grow in colder areas and are filled with pine trees. Pine tree forests can also be covered with snow in cold regions.	Pine tree forest in 0.4.13.
Deciduous forest Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Grass, Tree, Leaves, Aspen Tree, Aspen Leaves, Apple, Red Mushroom, Brown Mushroom	Deciduous forests are one of the most common biomes in Minetest and form in temperate zones. Trees, apple trees and aspen trees grow here naturally. Generally forests can spawn lakes, ponds, and rivers inside of it. Deciduous forests usually surround plains.	Forest with regular and aspen trees in 0.4.15
Rainforest Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Grass, Jungle Grass, Jungle Tree, Jungle Leaves, Brown Mushroom, Waterlily	Rainforests (or jungles) contains large trees which grow thickly packed together. Jungle Grass and Jungle Trees bearing Jungle Leaves spawn here naturally. On fallen jungle tree logs, brown mushrooms may appear rarely. Jungles near oceans form a swamp with waterlilies.	Rainforest biome in v7 as of 0.4.15 Rainforest swamp biome as of 0.4.15
Savanna Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Dry Grass, Dry Grass, Acacia Tree, Acacia Leaves, Acacia Bush Leaves, Acacia Bush Stem, Waterlily, Papyrus	The savanna is a dry land which is not a desert, it is populated with acacia trees and dry grass. Flat water bordering to savannahs is likely to have waterlilies and papyri.	Savannah in 0.4.15
Desert Desert Stone, Desert Sand, Cactus, Dry Shrub	Deserts contain large amounts of desert sand and desert stone. Cacti and dry shrubs also spawn here naturally on desert sand. Cacti can form in two different shapes. Deserts form in hot and ry areas.	Desert biome in v7, as of 0.4.15
Sandstone desert Sand, Sandstone, Dry Shrub	Sandstone deserts are large barren areas covered by sand with sandstone below. They form in temperate and dry climates.	Sandstone desert, as of 0.4.15
Cold desert Silver Sand, Stone, Dry Shrub	Cold deserts are large barren areas covered by large amounts of silver sand on top of stone. They form in cold and dry areas.	A cold desert, as of 0.4.15
Snowy grassland Stone, Dirt, Snow, Dirt with Snow, Dry Shrub, Bush Leaves, Bush Stem	The snowy grassland biome usually borders grasslands and is completely covered by a thin layer snow on top of dirt with snow. A few snow-covered bushes as well as dry shrubs can be found here.	Snowy grassland, as of 0.4.13
Taiga Stone, Dirt, Snow, Dirt with Snow, Pine Tree, Pine Needles, Dry Shrub, Brown Mushroom, Red Mushroom, Bush Leaves, Bush Stem	Taigas are cold snow-covered biomes with rich vegetation with snow and dirt and snow as surface. They are populated with snow-covered pine trees. In pine tree forests, mushrooms may appear rarely on fallen pine tree logs.	Pine trees in a taiga, as of 0.4.13
Tundra Stone, Dirt, Snow Block	Tundras are barren biomes in very cold climates with no vegetation and a layer of full snow blocks on the surface. This is one of the few biomes where snow blocks (rather than just snow) generates).	Tundra in 0.4.15
Glacier Ice, Snow Block	Glaciers form only in the coldest regions and are made of large amounts of ice, covered by a thick layer of snow blocks without any vegetation. Glacier biomes can be either mountain-like as in the screenshot or very flat. Glacier biomes generally border ice sheet biomes near oceans.	A large glacier formation, bordered by a regular snow biome, as of 0.4.13
Ice sheet Ice, Snow Block	Ice sheets form only in te coldest regions on top of oceans and generally border glacier biomes. Ice sheets are very flat and consist of a single layer of snow blocks with up to 10 layers of ice beneath, “floating” above water in deep oceans.	Ice sheet in 0.4.15

v6

The v6 map generator has a fixed set of biomes which can't be changed by mods. The outcome in different subgames will generally be very similar. This map generator has similar biomes than above, but there are a couple of minor differences. Biomes also somewhat determine the terrain shape.

Main biomes

Name and Features	Description	Images
Plains Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Grass, Grass, Flower	Plains are a quite flat biome. Large amounts of Dirt nodes and Dirt with Grass blocks, on which flowers and Grass may appear naturally (since 0.4.7). There are no bushes. The underground is made of stone.	Plains biome, as of 0.4.13
Forest Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Grass, Tree, Leaves, Apple, Red Mushroom, Brown Mushroom	Forests are one of the most common biomes in v6 and form in temperate zones. Trees and apple trees grow here naturally, but no aspen trees. Forests usually surround plains. There are no fallen tree logs either.	A forest of regular trees in 0.4.9
Desert Desert Stone, Desert Sand, Cactus, Dry Shrub	Deserts contain large amounts of desert sand and desert stone and often form large cliffs or canyons. Cacti and dry shrubs also spawn here naturally in clusters on desert sand. Deserts spawn underground rivers and lakes which can be over 200 blocks deep. In v6, cacti only form in a “column” shape of up to 4 blocks high.	Desert Biome, as of 0.4.7
Jungle Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Grass, Jungle Grass, Jungle Tree, Jungle Leaves, Brown Mushroom	Jungles contains large trees which grow thickly packed together. Jungle Grass and Jungle Trees bearing Jungle Leaves spawn here naturally. Jungles in v6 are almost identical to the jungles in the other map generators, but there are no fallen tree logs or swamps.	Jungle biome as of 0.4.7
Snow Stone, Dirt, Snow Block, Dirt with Snow, Snow, Ice, Pine Tree, Pine Needles, Dry Shrub	Snow biomes can cover land and water. On land, the surface is covered with snow with some pine tree forests. On water, large ice sheets form.	Pine trees in a snowy region, as of 0.4.13 Snow biomes form ice sheets on oceans (0.4.15)
Gravel Gravel, Stone	Very rarely, notably large areas of gravel can appear at surface level. These areas consist of nothing but gravel. This biome is unique to v6.	A gravel biome, as of 0.4.7

Technical biomes

Name and Features	Description	Images
Mountain Blocks are similar to those of forests and plains	Mountains are the most treacherous to scale. Trees and apple trees spawn here naturally. It is quite easy to be killed in a mountain biome if you don't pay attention to where you are going.	Mountain Biome, before 0.4.7
Ocean Water, Stone, Sand, Gravel, Clay	Oceans are an unofficial biome that seemed to be implemented around 0.2.20110731_1 Pre-Alpha. This biome is just a large body of water that can be up to 250 blocks deep. Oceans are commonly referred to as lakes, but are called oceans because they can be so huge, sometimes even 200-350 blocks across. Clay can be found near beaches under sand.	A large ocean at a beach, as of 0.4.7
Island Sand, Water	Not classifiable as a biome, but still frequent enough to be classified as a technical biome, islands occur many times in oceans. These could even be referred to as a sub-biome, being a product of another biome. Islands usually raise out of the ground 3-10 blocks, but can get as large as 40-80 blocks tall.	A small island, as of 0.4.7
Plateau Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Grass	A giant structure that seems to only happen in 0.4, plateaus are very common around mountain biomes. Plateaus can even float above ground and generate miniature biomes on top of it.	A plateau, as of 0.4.7
Water caves Stone, Water	Water caves are caves that only occur at sea level, which turn into a huge underground river or lake. These caves can lead thousands of blocks down and are extremely easily to get lost in.	A water cave, as of 0.4.7
Lava lakes Stone, Lava, Ores	Fairly common below -95Y, these lakes are caverns flooded with lava. Ores are extremely common around these lakes (see screenshot). However, often these caverns are not linked to, and it is very difficult to reach them.	A lava lake, as of 0.4.7
Dungeons Cobblestone, Mossy Cobblestone, Stair	Dungeons are hollow underground structures made of Cobblestone and Mossy Cobblestone. Many pathways and cobblestone Stairs connect a complex system of rooms. In 0.4.7, dungeons are not activated by default. “dungeons” has to be added to the variable mg_flags into the minetest.conf to cause the map generator to generate dungeons.	Dungeon, as of 0.4.7
Desert dungeons Desert Stone, Sandstone Brick	Desert dungeons are similar to dungeons, but they usually appear below desert biomes and have larger rooms and longer stairways. They are either made out of desert stone or sandstone brick.	Desert dungeon with desert stone, as of 0.4.13 Desert dungeon with sandstone brick, as of 0.4.13

History

The first biome; "Chaos" biome

An undefinable biome (0.0.1)

Plains biome, before 0.4.3

Before Minetest had version numbers, biomes were undefinable and only consisted of 4 materials: grass, stone, light and "water" (as seen below.) When 0.0.1 came out it brought actual biomes to the table, but before 0.2.20110529 Pre-Alpha map generation was a bit of a mess. Biomes would cross into each other, and were generally undefinable. So far 0.4 Dev has the most stable biome generation.

For more detail on the evolution of the map generator see the Map Generator Evolution page.