Voyage of the Continents

Over the many billions of years of the Earth's history our planet has never stopped changing shape. Massive tectonic forces have sculpted and resculpted our world in a never ending journey. Tectonics has created life - and destroyed it as well. Huge volcanoes and devastating earthquakes continue to dominate human history.

The lands of the South Pacific are ancient and spectacular. Australia may be the most stable of land masses but its neighbours are anything but. On the contrary, Asia is a continent on high alert. The Indian sub-continent that smashed into the mainland eons ago is still pushing the Himalayas to ever greater heights. Off the east coast, Japan is in the grip of tectonic forces that shake its islands with devastating force while Indonesia is ravaged by volcanoes.

Europe's geological history is mysterious. Born of three massive tectonic collisions the continent has been transformed many times. Tectonic forces continue to transform Europe. Iceland is cracking apart at the seams, releasing geysers of steam and mountains of volcanic ash. The Alps are still rising and the Mediterranean may be drying up. And we follow Siberia as it wanders the Earth's surface eventually joining with other land masses to form our planet's largest continent.

This is a story of high drama and intense beauty; the interaction of geology and life. A true voyage of the continents.