:06:00
of extaordinary journeys
of the continents.
:06:04
The most recent journey began
almost 200 million years ago
:06:08
when dinosaurs were
in their ascendancy.
:06:12
All of the continents
were then assembled
:06:14
in a single land mass-
:06:16
a super-continent, now called Pangaea.
:06:19
180 million years ago,
a great rift has begun to open
:06:24
between what will become
North America and Africa.
:06:28
The Atlantic is born.
:06:35
135 million years ago
:06:37
the first true birds appear
in the primeval skies.
:06:42
South America fractures
from Africa.
:06:45
Great areas
of the continents drown
:06:47
and emerge with the drift
of the continents.
:06:51
Climates and weather change
:06:53
constantly shaping
the evolution of life.
:06:57
lndia has broken free
from Antartica
:06:59
and drifts north to collide
with Asia 40 million years ago
:07:03
creating the mighty Himalayas
and the Tibetan plateau.
:07:14
Dinosaurs have perished.
:07:17
Mammals multiply.
:07:19
The Atlantic windens
as the Pacific dies.
:07:23
The world we know took form.
:07:30
We now know
the crust of the Earth
:07:32
to consist of a number
of rigid plates.
:07:36
Like great rafts of stone
:07:38
bearing the continents
on their backs
:07:40
these plates sail sluggishly-
inches in years-
:07:44
over the hot, deeper mantle
of the Earth.
:07:48
The plates are
in constant relative motion
:07:51
building apart..
:07:55
colliding...
:07:59
Sliding past one another...