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Episodes and Stories 3
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Rise of the Continents (2013) Eurasia
Episode 4Two hundred million years ago the continent we know as Eurasia - "the vast swathe of land that extends from Europe in the West to Asia in the East" - didn't exist. To reveal Eurasia's origins, Professor Iain Stewart climbs up to the "eternal flames" of Mount Chimera in southern Turkey, blazing natural gas that seeps out of the rock. Formed on the seafloor, it shows that where the south of Eurasia is today, there was once a 90-million-square-kilometre ocean known as the Tethys. It is the destruction of the Tethys Ocean that holds the key to Eurasia's formation. -
Rise of the Continents (2013) The Americas
Episode 3Professor Iain Stewart uncovers clues hidden within the New York skyline, the anatomy of American alligators and inside Bolivian silver mines, to reconstruct how North and South America were created. We call these two continents the New World, and in a geological sense they are indeed new worlds, torn from the heart of an ancient supercontinent - the Old World of Pangaea. -
Rise of the Continents (2013) Australia
Episode 2Professor Iain Stewart uncovers the mysterious history of Australia, and shows how Australia's journey as a continent has affected everything from Aboriginal history to modern-day mining, and even the evolution of Australia's bizarre wildlife, like the koala.