Minecraft wiki entry for Infdev_20100327_to_Beta_1.7.3, associated text: At the positive end, the remainder starts out relatively small but usually much larger than 1, and grows by 171.103 per block. At the negative end, the remainder starts at −232. This value is then adjusted by ((6x−15)x+10)x3 or in this case, ((6(12,550,824.053)−15)(12,550,824.053)+10)(12,550,824.053)3 ≈ 1.8685826 × 1036 for quintic interpolation. Even one block in at the positive end, this is already around 1011. The negative end starts all the way around −1049. For the Corner Far Lands, multiply the values of both edges. When interpolation (really extrapolation) is attempted with values as large as these, it produces similarly large output. That output completely dwarfs all other terms that would normally give the terrain its shape, instead effectively passing only the sign of this one noise function through.