I spent some time sorting through my past posts and stumbled upon my post about basalt columns found in a transition screen in Pokemon. The post, coupled with a few weeks of playing a few of the versions, made me think about how some of the pokemon are based on elements of geology. It also made me wonder how exactly some of these “creatures” function.
TAKE NOTE! this series will get nerdy, childish, and incredibly fun. But since I am still without a working camera, I have to manage. Who knows? this may catch on.
Let’s start with introducing the subject of the post today, Camerupt, known as the “eruption” pokemon, it has an affinity for both ground and fire, perfect for volcanism, right? So what does this fiery beast look like? Well, here it is….
Awwww look how adorable this lil’ guy is. But that’s beside the point, lets discuss the geo-anatomy. Right off the bat, it looks like a Bactrian Camel, but its humps appear to be composite volcanoes, now we know why it’s called the eruption pokemon (besides the fact its signature move/main form of defense is a volcanic eruption). But, what drives the eruption? what makes this creature create its form of defense? I have a few ideas as to how it can create a full blown volcanic event.
Lets go over how the camel makes its magma. Start with the humps, they’re rock, which can provide the melt needed for an eruption. The heat needed to melt the rock can be due to a chemical reaction inside the animal’s body(like the bombardier beetle creating boiling fluid and shooting it). Which begs the question, what would be the rock type/magma type camerupt uses? Look at the volcanoes, they aren’t shield volcanoes, and if the eruptions are explosive, then its most likely that the magma/rock type is felsic, with high amounts of silica.
Some of the water camerupt drinks can be used to add volatiles to the magma, increasing pressure which would lead to a more explosive eruption. This could also account for multiple uses of eruption to weaken with each succession (without water replenishment) both water vapor and magma are being spent. lets look at a diagram of this process….
Any rock lost from the melt might be replaced by residue melt solidifying inside the humps, as well as on the outside by lava flowing on the sides of the humps. Overall, this would probably be a very quick process and would impart a good amount of stress on the animal, which would cause this defense mechanism to be used sparingly.
I thoroughly enjoyed writing this post, i grew up playing pokemon and to be able to tie it in with another one of my passions is a treat. Hopefully people enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it.
