Voyage of the Continents

Africa is Mother Earth Gondwana the first single landmass broke apart into todays continents but its heart is Africa Land of rifts lakes and volcanoes Africas mineral deposits testify to its eonsold history

Volcanic activity and climate change define Africas ldquomodernrdquo history Modern in geological terms of course Recently mdash meaning 50 million years ago mdash the Arabian plate snapped off the African continent and joined Southeast Asia The Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden were born

North Americas mountain chains and huge plateaus were formed by volcanic eruptions earthquakes and the odd ice age Here we travel from the Canadian Shield across the Grand Canyon and to the Rockies to understand the extraordinary geological forces at play We even look into the future when part of California should be an island in the Pacific

Central America takes us back to when the world was young A fragile line of islands linking North and South America the islands of the Caribbean are recent apparitions on earth and may not be here to stay The 2010 earthquake in Haiti dramatically illustrated that This episode balances land and sea bringing the viewer closer to how it all began

One glance at a map of South America says it all Andes and Amazonian basin Two huge geological characteristics that describe how the continent came into being The Amazon was once under the sea As the water drained away the Andes rose up creating some of the most spectacular landscapes in the world

The history of Oceania is the history of the Earth as a whole Welded to Antarctica for millions of years Australia is today a deserted landscape that enjoys extraordinary stability Its neighbours do not share the same luck New Zealand is perilously located between two tectonic plates and the volcanic islands of the Southern Pacific could explode and disappear

The history of Asia is awash with superlatives Along with teams of scientists we discover the incredible volcanic phenomenon that caused the greatest extinction of all time Asia was the theatre of the worlds most violent tectonic collision and has witnessed the birth of the Earths highest summits

The tectonic activity in the south of the continent extends as far as Nepal and the Tibetan plain China is also affected and like Japan is exposed to daily earthquakes The volcanism of the entire region in Japan and in Indonesia is both a danger and a resource and many risk their lives to exploit it These tremendous phenomena are the fruits of the ceaseless Voyage of the Continents

Each impact caused cataclysms on a tremendous scale creating a world of chaotic forms and bright colours Over time mountain chains that were even higher than the Himalayas sprung up in Scandinavia and Scotland where today the great central plains lie After millions of years of erosion Europe became a sea floor It has been invaded by unusual life forms and some have modified the continent

Scientists working in the field will provide us with an understanding of the history of our Earth and its majestic and destructive phenomena The birth of the Alps the disappearance of the Mediterranean outstanding underground areas and imminent earthquakes are only some of the forms brought about as a result of the ceaseless Voyage of the Continents