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Rise of the Continents » Season 1 » Eurasia
00:59:06
Iain Stewart, Dean Ah Chee, Mike Archer
8
Plot summary
To reveal Eurasia's origins, Prof Iain Stewart climbs up to the "eternal flames" of Mount Chimaera and explains that where the South of Eurasia is today, there was once a ninety-million-square-kilometre Ocean known as the Tethys. Destruction of the Tethys Ocean led to Eurasia's formation. The freshwater fish called Karimeen, from the backwaters of Kerala in Southern India is a clue that India was once four thousand kilometres south of its current position on the other side of the Tethys, joined to Madagascar.
Nouns
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1)
saligram
Curious stones, called saligram by the locals,
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2)
ilmenite
Minerals like ilmenite and magnetite.
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3)
andesite
Look at this. This is an andesite without all those bubbles
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4)
tonn
it pumped billions of tonn of ash and toxic gas
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5)
cataclysm
You can see evidence of that cataclysm in the hills outside Mumbai,
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6)
innards
The innards, the guts of an ancient volcano.
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7)
cichlid
Now, in most cichlid, the anal fin's got three or four spines
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8)
volcanism
So the thing is that the source of this volcanism isn't to be found
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9)
subduction
Subduction generally happens when ocean crust meets continental crust.
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10)
nodule
What I'm looking for is hard, black nodule,
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11)
backwater
These are the gentle backwater of Kerala in southern India.
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12)
quirk
They're marked out by a couple of anatomical quirk
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13)
plankton
To transform plankton into gas,
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14)
crucible
and cities like this could become crucible of invention and innovation.
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15)
soot
It's soot - essentially carbon.
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16)
kilogram
In fact, no land vertebrate larger than 25 kilogram made it through.
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17)
kilometre
Evidence that can be found 500 kilometre southeast of Istanbul,
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18)
basalt
and it means that the basalt contains a record of its position
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19)
geologist
It's one of those words for a geologist that conjures up these images.
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20)
speck
Now, if you could look into those tiny speck
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21)
shale
kind of black lumps of shale
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22)
nook
They're small enough - they can get into nook and crannies
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23)
vapour
It's water vapour,
Verbs
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1)
scrunch
scrunch upwards as the two continents ploughed into each other.
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2)
encase
And as they grow they encase tiny quantities of magma,
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3)
spew
Unlike volcanoes like Hawaii and Etna that spew out these huge lava flows,
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4)
crumble
and this thing just crumble and collapsed back down into the sea,
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5)
brim
are brim with the remains of ancient sea creatures.
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6)
plough
were created as India plough into the rest of the continent,
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7)
carve
All over these hills, there's gems like these just carve into the lava.
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8)
roam
when dinosaurs roam the land,
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9)
descend
As the ocean crust descend beneath the continental crust,
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10)
reckon
but I reckon we're looking at the ultimate one here - rats.
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11)
pave
And that it was the movement of India that ultimately pave the way
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12)
choke
this slowly choke the planet and poisoned the oceans,
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13)
scatter
that are scatter across the ancient world.
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14)
hem
Cities like this are physically hem in and isolated from the neighbours.
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15)
tuck
tuck snugly in beside Madagascar, is India.
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16)
isolate
Cities like this are physically hemmed in and isolate from the neighbours.
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17)
assemble
Evidence that shows how Eurasia was assemble
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18)
dominate
Called Pangaea, it was a land dominate by the dinosaurs...
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19)
haul
that pulls the ocean crust and in turn haul the landmasses behind it,
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20)
fuse
You can see up here, China and Siberia fuse together.
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21)
melt
it melt away the base of the continental plate.
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22)
steep
This whole landscape is steep in myth.
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23)
thrust
the ocean floor at the margins of the Tethys was thrust upwards...
Adverbs
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1)
inexorably
inexorably closing the Tethys, creating Eurasia.
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2)
snugly
tucked snugly in beside Madagascar, is India.
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3)
stunningly
It's absolutely stunningly beautiful,
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4)
curiously
In a way, the extinction was curiously selective.
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5)
vertebrate
In fact, no land vertebrate larger than 25 kilograms made it through.
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6)
spontaneously
This process happens spontaneously at around 140 degrees...
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7)
aboard
Hey! Welcome aboard.
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8)
gradually
For 300 million years subduction has been gradually,
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9)
exclusively
this volcano's eruptions are almost exclusively explosive.
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10)
essentially
is essentially the story of how the Tethys died.
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11)
ultimately
And that it was the movement of India that ultimately paved the way
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12)
instantly
This is the Mediterranean Sea, instantly recognisable on a map.
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13)
basically
It's at his rear end, basically, the anal fin.
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14)
partly
partly because it comes all the way from China
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15)
somewhere
Somewhere round that cloud and mist
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16)
eventually
which rise up and eventually burst out as volcanoes.
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17)
twice
But, now travelling twice as fast, it crashed into the rest of Eurasia...
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18)
absolutely
It's absolutely stunningly beautiful,
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19)
truly
I'm here to find something truly ancient,
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20)
certainly
They've certainly got all the essential traits for survival.
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21)
nearly
Nearly half the world's population.
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22)
exactly
which allows you to pinpoint exactly where it formed.
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23)
immediately
isn't one you'd immediately associate with a volcano.
Adjectives
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1)
fossilised
Fossilised sea creatures.
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2)
superheated
A huge column of superheated rock
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3)
cataclysmic
one of the cataclysmic geological events in the planet's past.
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4)
voracious
And, in food, they're voracious eaters. They eat anything.
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5)
recognisable
This is the Mediterranean Sea, instantly recognisable on a map.
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6)
southernmost
can be found in the southernmost tip of India.
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7)
indelible
..and left an indelible mark on the landscape...
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8)
fearsome
..just as fearsome marine reptiles ruled the Tethys.
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9)
geochemical
A geochemical analysis of these flames indicates
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10)
eurasian
Many of the great Eurasian civilisations sprung up
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11)
viscous
IAIN'S VOICE ECHOES: ..viscous and sticky...
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12)
prized
..and is, for the local fishermen, these waters' most prized catch.
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13)
molten
Molten rock that came out, solidified
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14)
monumental
in a series of monumental collisions...
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15)
tempting
Maybe it's because we live in the land that it's tempting to think
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16)
fragmented
This is a fragmented landscape.
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17)
extinct
of an extinct member of the squid family.
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18)
jurassic
I mean, these ammonites were swimming around in Jurassic seas
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19)
anatomical
They're marked out by a couple of anatomical quirks
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20)
surreal
It's such a surreal scene.
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21)
fertile
They occupied fertile river valleys that grew up
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22)
catastrophic
..catastrophic impacts
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23)
flaming
In Turkish they're called Yanartas, which is just "flaming rock".
