As a recent convert to Geological obsession I have been entranced by Iain Stewart’s BBC2 series Rise of the Continents. So many questions I’d never even asked are answered. Why, for instance, is Antarctica a waste of ice and snow but Australia tropical desert? Until 200 million years ago they were joined as part of the single earth landmass Pangaea, and covered in lush Glossopteris forest. When they sundered, the Antarctic island, surrounded by ocean, began to chill. Wind currents stirred ocean currents to circulate around the continent rather than trade with the warmer waters coming from the tropics. I haven’t worked out yet quite why Australia became tropical desert. Obviously it was always moving north, getting warmer and, drying out, so desertification presumably became unstoppable. Australia, in any case, is still moving and will eventually crash into Asia, unleashing a new mountain range and becoming tropically lush again
Speaking of mountain ranges, I didn’t know that New York sits on the eroded base of a mountain range once of Himalayan dimensions, produced when South America collided with North. A good base on which to build skyscrapers.
For those who can access BBC iPlayer, I can’t recommend this series too highly.
Speaking of mountain ranges, I didn’t know that New York sits on the eroded base of a mountain range once of Himalayan dimensions, produced when South America collided with North. A good base on which to build skyscrapers.
For those who can access BBC iPlayer, I can’t recommend this series too highly.
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