Lost River Theory!

[TheOceanistBlu]

In the lost river cache, there is a plant specimen whose roots resemble the lost river's walls and ceiling. It's is entirely possible, and probable, that the grand reef or even dunes's sand or other material us on top of this plant material and is simply carried from other areas or from erosion from the many islands. How do you feel about that?

[Dirak2012]

Not much make sense in the lost river, you can't have trees like that underwater. To me it's just a cool looking place.

[bongerman85]

that tree is exposed to sunlight. the one in the lost river is not. i see what he is saying. however i dont believe the cove tree is a tree at all... the entire area is somewhat of a mystery as most who have not bothered to follow the lore into the game fail to realize that we are living inside of the basin of a dormant supervolcano. any number of things contribute to the strange conditions we begin to experience under the surface of the seabed. especially once u get down below 500m things get weird. entire ecosystem that survives in impossibly hot temperatures. even adapting to use the enviornment around them as defensemechanisms. and an entire ecosystem surviving a few hundred meters above in extremely cold temperatures. and then one day the volcano will erupt and wipe all of it out. and then it will start over again. as far as ur tree theory. i feel that what is seen as a tree is more of a root system of something else. most of what we see is roots holding up leviathan eggs.

[Kyle]

I think that the weight would be too much for plant life to hold up, if that's what you're suggesting. And it's not really feasible, given the structure of the planet.

It's an interesting theory, but there also just isn't that much stuff around the planet to get carried there anyway. Most players seem to miss the fact that the planet is mostly empty water. There are only two known ecological sectors on the planet. The rest is open water that can only support microscopic life, and the leviathans that filter feed them.

So it seems far more likely for things to have evolved and grown around the volcano. There just isn't enough stuff anywhere else on the planet to make islands, or reefs, etc.

I don't think the vines would survive too much activity from the volcano spewing out the material needed to form stuff above it.

[TheOceanistBlu]

I never said the cove tree was the center.
I didn't even mention a tree!

[TheOceanistBlu]

Originally posted by William:

I think that the weight would be too much for plant life to hold up, if that's what you're suggesting. And it's not really feasible, given the structure of the planet.

It's an interesting theory, but there also just isn't that much stuff around the planet to get carried there anyway. Most players seem to miss the fact that the planet is mostly empty water. There are only two known ecological sectors on the planet. The rest is open water that can only support microscopic life, and the leviathans that filter feed them.

So it seems far more likely for things to have evolved and grown around the volcano. There just isn't enough stuff anywhere else on the planet to make islands, or reefs, etc.

I don't think the vines would survive too much activity from the volcano spewing out the material needed to form stuff above it.

They could be vines, but the specimen in the lost river cache suggests otherwise

[Kyle]

Roots or vines, either way, it would be some super massive plant. And I don't know if that would survive the volcano underneath it erupting material to actually form the stuff on top of it.

Most of the planet is open water. The only reason the game area in Subnautica 1 exists is because it takes place above a volcano. There aren't a lot of islands or anything else to deposit sand. Most of the planet is creepily open water and sky. The Wiki says it filled in with sediment, so it is possible, but I have a hard time simply believing that.

It seems more likely the volcano formed the whole game area through activity, and has calmed down enough to allow plant life to spread around it, even deep underwater, covering all the walls. From what I know, plantlife would grow fairly well around a dormant volcano, it keeps it from freezing and helps sustain an ecosystem for it.

[TheOceanistBlu]

Originally posted by William:

Roots or vines, either way, it would be some super massive plant. And I don't know if that would survive the volcano underneath it erupting material to actually form the stuff on top of it.

Most of the planet is open water. The only reason the game area in Subnautica 1 exists is because it takes place above a volcano. There aren't a lot of islands or anything else to deposit sand. Most of the planet is creepily open water and sky. The Wiki says it filled in with sediment, so it is possible, but I have a hard time simply believing that.

It seems more likely the volcano formed the whole game area through activity, and has calmed down enough to allow plant life to spread around it, even deep underwater, covering all the walls. From what I know, plantlife would grow fairly well around a dormant volcano, it keeps it from freezing and helps sustain an ecosystem for it.

Could you maybe explain the three ancient levithan skeletons located in the lost river? Not including the one in the research facility.

[TheOceanistBlu]

honestly, i'm just trying to understand how the lost river looked like before it was the lost river

[Amanoob105]

Originally posted by TheOceanistBlu:

honestly, i'm just trying to understand how the lost river looked like before it was the lost river

Seeing as the entire map is just the top part of one giant volcano, I would guess that the further back you go the more those tunnels looked like the the active, and then inactive, lava zone(s).

[TheOceanistBlu]

Ok, that makes sense. Do you think the planet was always 100% aquatic?

[Amanoob105]

Originally posted by TheOceanistBlu:

Ok, that makes sense. Do you think the planet was always 100% aquatic?

Easily, though to be fair it's not quite a full 100% even if it's not far off. Most of our on planet is aquatic and we have several thousand times more land than that one does.
When you shoot off in the rocket you can see for yourself how little ground there is above water.
Their biggest landmass is a lump of ice at one of the poles.

Theoretically speaking given enough time it could have enough volcanic activity to see real landmasses turn up above the water, but we're a long, long way off seeing that at the time we find this world.

[TheOceanistBlu]

Again, was it always that way?

Originally posted by Amanoob105:

Originally posted by TheOceanistBlu:

Ok, that makes sense. Do you think the planet was always 100% aquatic?

Easily, though to be fair it's not quite a full 100% even if it's not far off. Most of our on planet is aquatic and we have several thousand times more land than that one does.
When you shoot off in the rocket you can see for yourself how little ground there is above water.
Their biggest landmass is a lump of ice at one of the poles.

Theoretically speaking given enough time it could have enough volcanic activity to see real landmasses turn up above the water, but we're a long, long way off seeing that at the time we find this world.

[Amanoob105]

Originally posted by TheOceanistBlu:

Again, was it always that way?

Originally posted by Amanoob105:

Easily, though to be fair it's not quite a full 100% even if it's not far off. Most of our on planet is aquatic and we have several thousand times more land than that one does.
When you shoot off in the rocket you can see for yourself how little ground there is above water.
Their biggest landmass is a lump of ice at one of the poles.

Theoretically speaking given enough time it could have enough volcanic activity to see real landmasses turn up above the water, but we're a long, long way off seeing that at the time we find this world.

Again. Easily.

If you want to get really technical, you could argue that it may have likely started out a ball of rock that an ocean had yet to form on.

Had there been land that eroded away into the water then it would have had to happened so long ago to make no real difference to the answer to your question in the grand scheme of time.

And if you want a more definitive answer that the, two, separate ones I just gave then there isn't one.
Because it's a game world. It is as it was made to be and any theories on what the world might have been like before that will never be more than that. Theories. Part of the reason I find it fun.

[TheOceanistBlu]

What if (controversial, i know) there hadn't been the two moons, or the one wasn't as close? Would 4546B still be an aquatic planet?

[Kyle]

Yes, it was probably always water. This is all very theoretical. It would take a lot to actually destroy or move that much landmass and continental shelf, if I'm even using the right word. Anything that devastating might just destroy the whole planet. But who really knows.

So yes, I think it has always been water.

The game doesn't give us a lot about the really big, ancient skeletons in the Lost River. Our only game clue is that geological changes have occurred. So, the shape of the tunnels has changed.

The best theory is that the Lost River used to be a much bigger tunnel system that opened back into the sea, and that parts have collapsed.