earth science

Rise of the Continents

Rise of the Continents is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Rise of the Continents rather than just read about it. In short: Rise of the Continents is a British documentary television series that premiered on BBC Two on 9 June 2013. The four-part series is presented by geologist Iain Stewart.

Key takeaways

Rise of the Continents belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Rise of the Continents to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Rise of the Continents from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Rise of the Continents is a British documentary television series that premiered on BBC Two on 9 June 2013. The four-part series is presented by geologist Iain Stewart. The series hypothesizes how 250 million years in the future, all of the continents will collide together once more, forming a new Pangea, with Eurasia right at its heart.

Episodes

1. "Africa" Using clues like Africa's spectacular landmarks, mineral wealth and wildlife, Iain Stewart shows how the continent of Africa was formed from the wreckage of a long lost supercontinent. It features, among other things, creation of Victoria Falls, diamond mines of Sierra Leone, skeletons of early whales buried in the sand, and the nutrient-rich grass of the Serengeti Plains.

2. "Australia" This episode shows how Australia's journey as a continent has affected everything from Aboriginal history to modern day mining, and also the evolution of Australia's unique wildlife. Iain visits an opal mining town called Coober Pedy to recreate the breakup of Gondwana, and to also show how Australia's formation led to the creation of a vast underground aquifer. The episode also features cliffs of the Australian Bight which are a reminder to the times when Australia was once joined to Antarctica.

3. "The Americas" 200 million years ago North and South America were carved from Pangaea, and pushed westwards as separate island continents. The episode explains how subduction has created the longest continual mountain range in the world - the Andes, and how 300 million years ago New York was at the heart of a huge mountain range. Using llama as an example, Iain explains how most of South America's wildlife originated in North America, and only came south when the two island continents of North and South America joined three million years ago.

4. "Eurasia" 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.

Merchandise A two-disc DVD of the series was released by the BBC on 1 July 2013.

References

External links Rise of the Continents at BBC Online Rise of the Continents at IMDb

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rise of the Continents

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rise of the Continents claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Rise of the Continents before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Rise of the Continents ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Rise of the Continents

In research: Rise of the Continents appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Rise of the Continents in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Rise of the Continents is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2013 British television series debuts, 2013 British television series endings, 2013 English-language television series debuts, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rise of the Continents outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Rise of the Continents in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Rise of the Continents means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Rise of the Continents out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Rise of the Continents in simple terms?

Rise of the Continents is a British documentary television series that premiered on BBC Two on 9 June 2013. The four-part series is presented by geologist Iain Stewart.

Why does Rise of the Continents matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Rise of the Continents?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Rise of the Continents.