The Hawaiian Islands are a study in contradictions. The fastest growing islands on earth are also the fastest disappearing. Made of one of the hardest minerals, it crumbles at a touch. The world's most active volcano is nowhere near the typical volcanic regions. Geologists strive to understand these mysteries.
The discovery of the San Andreas Fault and efforts to understand it are described.
2009 • Environment
The discovery of the Marianas trench was one of the first puzzle pieces that lead to the understanding of the most massive process that shapes the geology of the Earth; plate tectonics and the creation of new crust in the mid-ocean ridges and its subduction under the continents.
2009 • Environment
The unique geological conditions that make Krakatoa and its successor, Anak Krakatau, extraordinarily explosive and, despite its remoteness, dangerous are explained.
2009 • Environment
Scotland is a ground zero for some of the most significant geologic cataclysms in Earth's history. Understanding of these titanic shifts was prompted by a mysterious lake known as Loch Ness.
2009 • Environment
The geological history of New York City is as superlative as it's current economic impact including; a titanic mountain rage, massive volcanic eruptions, immense glaciers and an enormous flash flood.
2009 • Environment
Chile's Atacama Desert is the driest, oldest and deadest desert on earth. Yet it's plays host to living creatures and penguins even thrive nearby. It may provide clues to where to look for life on other, seemingly barren, planets.
2009 • Environment
The Great Lakes region provided geologists with much of the evidence for the frequent ice ages that visited North America. But the lakes may be a rather transient feature of the continent dependent upon the recurring ice ages to maintain their existence.
2009 • Environment
The evidence, structure, history and potential threat of the Yellowstone super volcano are described.
2009 • Environment
A tsunami is a dramatic indicator of geological activity magnifying the impact into extensive coastal destruction. Scientists searching for evidence of past tsunamis to predict when they are likely to recur and how severe they are likely to be uncover a new phenomenon, the mega-tsunami.
2009 • Environment
The Hawaiian Islands are a study in contradictions. The fastest growing islands on earth are also the fastest disappearing. Made of one of the hardest minerals, it crumbles at a touch. The world's most active volcano is nowhere near the typical volcanic regions. Geologists strive to understand these mysteries.
2009 • Environment
The Alps are known as the majestic mountain range of Europe. But their formation from a collision between Europe and Africa left an unstable structure that is now a classic study in erosion by rivers of water, ice and rock suggesting an even greater former glory. Left unexplained is why the Mediterranean Sea exists between the continents.
2009 • Environment
Volcanologist Tom Pfeiffer and his team are embarking on their most daring adventure yet--visiting and photographing two remote Indonesian volcanoes, among the 20 most active in the world. Join a tense journey into the heart of one of nature's most dramatic and unpredictable natural phenomena, one that will test this experienced crew of scientists and native guides.
S2E1 • Volcanic Odysseys • 2016 • Environment
Stabilizing our planet's life-support system won't be easy — but it can be done. And our survival depends upon it.
2021 • Environment
Victor Vescovo's team takes on the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.
S1E4 • Expedition: Deep Ocean • 2021 • Environment
It’s a common saying that elephants never forget. But the more we learn about elephants, the more it appears that their impressive memory is only one aspect of an incredible intelligence that makes them some of the most social, creative, and benevolent creatures on Earth.
From the Norwegian fjords to the coast of Jura in the English Channel and up to the peak of the Matterhorn; go from the volcanoes of the Massif Central in southern France to the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, or the “Grand Canyon of Europe”.
2/2 • Expedition Europe • 2019 • Environment
Professor Chris Jackson charts the planet's changing climate. He shows how the oldest rocks and fossils provide evidence of radical climate changes throughout its history, revealing that what drives them is the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
1/2 • BBC Royal Institution Christmas Lectures - Planet Earth: A User's Guide • 2020 • Environment