earth-science
Colliding Continents
Colliding Continents - What created the land we see today?
Powerful forces deep below the Earth’s surface are propelling the continents on a restless journey across the face of the globe. They will rip vast landmasses apart and send them smashing into one another, to reshape our world. Oceans will disappear; mountains will crumble, and rise again. And where great cities once stood… there will be little more than fossils. We investigate the forces that drive this dynamic process – to discover what created the land we see today. And what the future holds for us, on the incredible voyage of our ever-changing continents. What we are observing at the moment is only a snap shot of the global cycle that the Earth has been undergoing for the last 4.5 billion years and will continue to undergo even if we are not around any more. We look into the future to see what the world map will look like in 250 million years time.
Produced by Martin Gorst
Directed by Tom Stubberfield
Price: $19.99
About Video
One Page Synopsis
Powerful forces deep below the Earth’s surface are propelling the continents on a restless journey across the face of the globe. They will rip vast land masses apart and send them smashing into one another, to reshape our world. Oceans will disappear, mountains will crumble, and rise again. And where great cities once stood… there will be little more than fossils.
This film investigates the forces that drive this dynamic process – to discover what created the land we see today? And what the future holds for us, on the incredible voyage of our ever-changing continents.
We visit Prof. Sam Bowring at MIT to explore how the first continents formed in early Earth. We also look at the much debated issue of when water was first present on Earth. Analysing nature’s time capsules – zircon, help us in our quest.
We travel to Iceland where new rock is constantly being created as it sits on a ridge in the middle of the Atlantic. This mid-Atlantic ridge stretches for over 11,000 miles from the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island to the Arctic Circle and divides the North American plate from the Eurasian plate. We travel to a bridge between these two continental plates and explore the forces that cause these huge land masses to drift apart and collide together: plate tectonics.
Our next destination is the Barberton region of South Africa, where we visit the world’s best preserved ancient continent before learning how the continents are continually evolving.
We meet paleontologist Prof. Mark McMenamin of Mount Holyoke College, who gathers evidence from the break-up of the last supercontinent Pangaea which took place approximately 280 million years ago. He shows us how the fossil record offers vital clues to the previous layout of the continents.
Since the continents were born, vast mountain ranges have straddled them as a result of plates colliding. Professor Gerard Stampfli of Lausanne University in Switzerland studies the processes that built the Alps. He explains why if you stand on the Matterhorn, you’re actually standing in Africa!
We travel to the Grand Canyon to find out how rock can build up in sediment and how water can erode rock, carving out the awe-inspiring landscapes we see today. In the case of the Grand Canyon, we learn how a stream started at 14,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains, carved down to sea level, and as the Grand Canyon just happened to be in the way, it got cut out.
What we are observing at the moment is only a snap shot of the Earths global cycle that has been undergoing for the last 4.5 billion years and will continue to undergo even if we are not around any more. We look into the future to see what the world map will look like in 250 million years time. Tune in to find out!
ASPECT RATIO 4.3
MAIN SOUNDTRACK English Stereo
DISC FORMAT DVD 5
REGION 1 NTSC
CLASSIFICATION Exempt
NOTE Not available for shipment outside the USA
Runtime: 54 minutes
