Channel logo

Wonders of the National Parks: A Geology of North America

Season 1
The Great Courses is proud to join forces with National Geographic to present Wonders of the National Parks: A Geology of North America. Beautifully illustrated, it will take you to more than a hundred spectacular sites guided by geologist and former college professor Ford Cochran, who is currently the Director of Programming for National Geographic Expeditions.
IMDb 7.1201536 episodesTV-PG
Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase

Prime membership required

Terms apply

Episodes

  1. S1 E1 - Yellowstone: Microcosm of the National Parks
    October 22, 2015
    36min
    TV-PG
    Start your tour of the geological wonders of North America's national parks with Yellowstone, where the breathtaking landscape inspired the idea of a national park. Focus on the processes that produce Yellowstone's many geothermal formations, particularly its geysers.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  2. S1 E2 - Yellowstone’s Cataclysmic Origins and Future
    October 22, 2015
    34min
    TV-PG
    Read the evidence in the rocks to discover Yellowstone's bigger story: the massive volcanic eruptions that created the region and will one day destroy it, the glaciers that shaped the terrain, and the meltwater floods that carved the impressive Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  3. S1 E3 - Grand Teton and Jackson Hole
    March 13, 2015
    30min
    TV-PG
    At Grand Teton National Park south of Yellowstone, an active fault lifts some of North America's oldest rocks to the summits of some of the continent's youngest mountains. Explore these glacier-sculpted peaks, and learn the origin of the broad valley, called Jackson Hole, at the base of the Teton Range.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  4. S1 E4 - Hawaii Volcanoes: Earth’s Largest Mountains
    October 22, 2015
    30min
    TV-PG
    Compare the lessons of hotspot volcanism at Yellowstone with the very different landscape at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which is also stoked by upwelling magma from Earth's mantle. Professor Cochran describes rivers of fire on the Big Island of Hawaii and suggests distinctive lava formations to visit.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  5. S1 E5 - The Hawaiian Islands and Maui’s Haleakala
    October 22, 2015
    32min
    TV-PG
    How does a barren volcanic landscape become a tropical paradise? Study the speed with which volcanic islands erode, leaving rich soil behind. Watch these processes at work on the Big Island of Hawaii, at Haleakala National Park on Maui, and also in the National Park of American Samoa.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  6. S1 E6 - Mount Saint Helens, Lassen Volcanic, Rainier
    October 22, 2015
    29min
    TV-PG
    Tour Mount Rainier National Park and Lassen Volcanic National Park in the Pacific Northwest, which are part of the Cascade Range of active volcanoes that include Mount Saint Helens. Then visit a group of similarly cataclysmic volcanoes in national parks in central Mexico.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  7. S1 E7 - Crater Lake, Olympic, North Cascades
    October 22, 2015
    27min
    TV-PG
    Learn how seafloor subduction raised a lofty volcano only to obliterate it in a colossal eruption that created Crater Lake in Oregon. Hundreds of miles to the north, tectonic forces upended the imposing mountains of Olympic National Park and formed the high jagged peaks at North Cascades National Park.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  8. S1 E8 - Volcanoes of Alaska: Katmai and Lake Clark
    October 22, 2015
    31min
    TV-PG
    Travel to Alaska to explore the vast national parks at Katmai and Lake Clark. Katmai was the site of the 20th century's largest volcanic eruption, while Lake Clark is unusual among national parks for having no roads and being accessible only by boat or small plane.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  9. S1 E9 - Alaska’s Glacier Bay and Kenai Fjords
    October 22, 2015
    29min
    TV-PG
    Continue your tour of the largest state with stops at two spectacular parks that are popular destinations for cruise ships: Glacier Bay and Kenai Fjords. Discover how glaciers form and examine their historical advance and retreat in this region. Also, learn how a glacier is like a candy bar!
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  10. S1 E10 - Yosemite: Nature’s Cathedral
    October 22, 2015
    33min
    TV-PG
    Survey the most beautiful valley on Earth: Yosemite. Even for those who have not yet visited, its views are iconic thanks to stunning photos by Ansel Adams and others. Investigate the geological history of the park, focusing on its most distinctive rock type - granite.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  11. S1 E11 - Redwoods, Sequoias, and the Sierra Nevada
    October 22, 2015
    34min
    TV-PG
    Dig deeper into the geology of Yosemite, charting the role of glaciers in shaping the terrain. Also, learn the origin of California's famous gold deposits. Then study the special conditions that promote the growth of giant sequoias, and visit the national parks that preserve these towering trees for posterity.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  12. S1 E12 - Pinnacles to Joshua Tree: The San Andreas
    October 22, 2015
    29min
    TV-PG
    Trace the earth-shaking San Andreas fault through a series of national parks and recreation areas - from Point Reyes, Golden Gate, and Pinnacles in the north to the Santa Monica Mountains, Channel Islands, Joshua Tree, and Mexico's Sierra de San Pedro Martir in the south.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  13. S1 E13 - Denali to Gates of the Arctic
    October 22, 2015
    35min
    TV-PG
    The story of the tectonic train wreck that built Alaska is written all over the three largest national parks in the U.S.: Wrangell-St. Elias, Gates of the Arctic, and Denali. These remote preserves encompass America's tallest mountains, all built by subduction zone processes.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  14. S1 E14 - Death Valley and Great Basin: The Rift Zone
    May 29, 2015
    30min
    TV-PG
    Continental rifting has caused huge blocks of land to sink between high mountain belts, producing Death Valley, the lowest, hottest, driest place in North America. Explore this and other national parks and monuments in the Great Basin region.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  15. S1 E15 - Shenandoah: The Collision of Old Continents
    October 22, 2015
    33min
    TV-PG
    A hike along the Appalachian Trail is a journey back in time to a continental collision that raised mountains rivalling the Himalayas - now eroded into the Appalachians. Chart the geology of this ancient chain from Shenandoah National Park to Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  16. S1 E16 - Great Smoky Mountains and Hot Springs
    May 29, 2015
    29min
    TV-PG
    Survey some of the attractions that make the Great Smoky Mountains America's most visited national park. Investigate a related geological structure in the famous Hot Springs National Park, discovering why there are hot springs so far from volcanic activity.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  17. S1 E17 - National Rivers: Gorges, Falls, and Meanders
    October 22, 2015
    31min
    TV-PG
    Rivers are an important clue to the geology of a region and also offer superb possibilities for recreation. Journey to some of America's national rivers, wild and scenic rivers, water trails, and other river parks, including the Upper Missouri River Breaks, the New River Gorge, and Niagara Falls.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  18. S1 E18 - Great Dune Fields of North America
    May 29, 2015
    31min
    TV-PG
    Sand dunes aren't usually pictured in a setting of alpine peaks, but that's precisely the scene at Great Sand Dunes National Park in the Colorado Rockies. Study the conditions that create sprawling dune fields here as well as in Kobuk Valley, White Sands, Death Valley, and Nebraska's Sand Hills.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  19. S1 E19 - National Seashores and Lakeshores
    October 22, 2015
    30min
    TV-PG
    Get your feet wet at America's coastal national parks, where dunes, salt marshes, ponds, and lagoons characterize shorelines. Investigate the myriad dynamic processes at Cape Hatteras, Cape Cod, and Assateague National Seashores, and at Sleeping Bear Dunes, Indiana Dunes, Pictured Rocks, and Apostle Islands National Lakeshores.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  20. S1 E20 - Reefs: Virgin Islands, Florida, Texas
    October 22, 2015
    28min
    TV-PG
    Turn to a trio of national parks where corals and other reef creatures are helping create new carbonate rock. Then encounter a massive reef from our planet's past, raised to towering heights at Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  21. S1 E21 - National Marine Sanctuaries and Monuments
    October 22, 2015
    32min
    TV-PG
    Continue your underwater adventures by touring America's national marine sanctuaries and monuments, spread over more than a dozen locations up and down the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, plus the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes, Hawaii, and beyond.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  22. S1 E22 - Acadia’s Highlands and Islands
    October 22, 2015
    30min
    TV-PG
    The rocks of coastal Maine reveal a gripping legacy of lost oceans, colliding continents, epic mountains, furious volcanoes, and massive glaciers. Acadia National Park records evidence of all this, etched into its granite summits and boulder-strewn shores.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  23. S1 E23 - The Dakota Badlands
    October 22, 2015
    32min
    TV-PG
    Visit Theodore Roosevelt, Badlands, and Mount Rushmore National Parks in the Dakotas, beholding the landscape that inspired Theodore Roosevelt to become an ardent conservationist. Learn how the fantastic forms of the badlands are the product of deposition, uplift, and erosion.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  24. S1 E24 - The Grand Canyon’s 2-Billion-Year Staircase
    October 22, 2015
    34min
    TV-PG
    Descend into the Grand Canyon, recording the full sequence of strata from top to bottom - a story that takes you from 270-million-year-old limestone formed in a shallow sea to basement rocks that record a mountain-building saga from 1.7 billion years ago.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase
  25. S1 E25 - Carving the Grand Canyon
    March 13, 2015
    29min
    TV-PG
    What did it take to carve the Grand Canyon? Explore theories on how this remarkable chasm came to be. Then take a boat trip through the park, from the Colorado River's access point at Lee's Ferry, down fearsome rapids and into a majestic wonderland. Also, study how humans have changed the river.
    Subscribe to The Great Courses Signature Collection or The Great Courses Living or purchase

Details

More info

Subtitles
None available
Producers
The Great Courses
Cast
Ford Cochran
Studio
The Great Courses
By clicking play, you agree to our Terms of Use.