[akdavis]

Google Earth images simply will not suffice for Iwo Jima in 1945, particulary pre- and during invasion. It was a very small area of land that saw immense violence. Looking at the historical photos, vast changes have occurred. The original Japanese airfields are nearly invisible, the road network has been substantially altered, there are signs of a great deal of agriculture (rice production?) that is no longer present (thus even nailing the modern vegetation perfectly may not bring us any closer to reality), and a number of modern structures have popped up around the island. It's an awesome start, but I think a great deal of "hand-drawn" textures will be needed for historical reproduction.

Regarding the airfields, most of the historical photos show them as being fairly light in shade. I would not assume that the island is all dark beneath the vegetation. Black sand beaches can be seen in many places with a great variety of different soils and rocks. The only prerequisite is volcanoes! Even Suribachi shows striking contrast between dark and very light materials (volcanic rock of various colors and ash).