DOCSLIB.ORG

Asia: Continent of Extremes and Contrasts

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Asia: Continent of Extremes and Contrasts A: CONTINENT OF EXTREMES AND CONTRASTS GENERAL INTRODUCTION Asia has been identified by the National Geographic Society Education Foundation as our topic for geographic awareness emphasis. Why do you suppose this continent has been chosen for study? There are many reasons Asia has been identified as a critical continent for examination in the early part of the twenty-first century. This introduction will provide a selection of facts and generalizations about the physical and cultural geography that make Asia important to the United States and the world at this time. It is a continent of extremes and invites internal comparison and contrast. Just a few examples will be given in this introduction but students are encouraged to identify other data, in addition to what is provided here, that help us understand the geography of this great continent. As you review the following descriptive comments about Asia use an atlas to orient your spatial thinking and understanding. Geographic terms are always important. Why do we refer to parts of Asia as the Near or Middle East and other parts as the Far East? These terms originated in Europe many hundreds of years ago. Historically, to the European, those lands on the Eastern shore of the Mediterranean were ‘near’, or ‘middle’, when compared to China which was ‘far’ east. This logic also gave the islands of Southeast Asia the name the East Indies and the islands of the Caribbean region the West Indies. We in the United States have accepted this labeling of lands by the Europeans. Therefore, from the United States today, we must travel east to go to the West Indies and go west to get to the East Indies. Note: The author (in some cases the word compiler might be more appropriate) of this introduction wishes to acknowledge the Wiley and Sons book, deBlij and Muller, THE WORLD TODAY: CONCEPTS AND REGIONS IN GEOGRAPHY, 2007, as a reference source. I recommend this reference as a major help to any teacher who wishes to study the continent of Asia. It can serve as an important shelf reference for students who would engage in such a study. SELECTED LOCATION AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS The largest of the continents, Asia extends more than 150 degrees of longitude from east to west and more than 90 degrees of latitude from north to south. Asia is the location of Mount Everest in the Himalayas, the highest elevation on earth, to the Dead Sea located between Israel and Jordan, the lowest. It includes some of the hottest and coldest, driest and wettest lands on Earth. It is diverse to the extreme as to its cultural characteristics of language, religion, type of government and in other ways. Asia is located on what many people have called the “Eurasian” landmass. An examination of any world map will substantiate that reasoning. However, to simplify a bit, most geographers agree that Asia is bordered by the Ural Mountains in Russia, the Arctic, Pacific, Indian Oceans, the Mediterranean and Black Seas and the Caucasus Mountains. Additional smaller features could be included. Can you find some of them such as the Bering Strait or the Sea of Marmara? An analysis of the physical map of Asia will show a number of features that give Asia its unique character. Three of the world’s largest nations, Russia in size, China in area and population, and India in population, are there and the extremely long coastline and large number of islands belie (give a false impression) the fact that the continent has, of forty eight total nations, thirteen countries that do not have direct access to the oceans of the world. Georgia and Jordan have only marginal access to the world’s trade routes. Deserts, tundra and mountains are other noticeable features with their distinctively different climates and vegetation regimes. Great areas of needleleaf forests cover Siberia and in Southeast Asia are millions of square miles of subtropical and tropical rainforest. The physical environment suggests and limits what humans can do as they develop their lifestyles, but it does not dictate. Very broad generalizations about the east-west bands of climates of Asia would reveal that the north is very cold, the central band is dry, the mountain band is called ‘undifferentiated’ climate because slope, altitude and latitude can change highland climates significantly over short distances, and the south has humid climates Drought and unreliable precipitation dominate the natural environments in the realm. The southwestern part of Asia is in the desert belt of the world, the Himalayan Mountains in the South-Central part of the continent and the high latitudes in the North each has an impact on the dry characteristic of the land. South of the Himalayas the winds are warm as they come off of the Indian Ocean. They are full of moisture and cause monsoon conditions in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Northern India. Some years Bangladesh will receive over 500 inches of rain, causing flooding and great destruction. As the winds proceed north over the mountains, they become cool, dropping their rain. As they continue north and cross the high peaks as very dry winds they cause evaporation rather than rain. This condition is called a rain shadow. A result of this transfer of moisture from the ground to the air creates desert conditions. Any area that receives ten inches or less of rainfall in a year is called a desert. Notice on the map the Takla Makan, Gobi and contiguous deserts. This extremely large dry area includes the nations of China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and part of southern Siberia. From the north, the very cold winds move from the Arctic south through Russia and they too release very little moisture. These dry conditions make it difficult to produce agricultural products in much of central Asia. Asian soils are varied and very important. Where there is adequate rainfall and warm weather multiple harvests are made on the same land. The best examples are in Southern and Southeast Asian river valleys and lowlands where rice is the most important crop. In many areas relatively small patches of productive soils are farmed very intensively to produce wheat and other grains critical to the survival of the population. Irrigation is important in many of the dryer areas of the continent. An important physical characteristic of Asia can be noted as we look at a map of plate tectonics. A pattern shows that along the Pacific rim from the Kamchatka Peninsula south and then west following the Indonesian islands is a zone that has had a high number of recorded earthquakes and volcanic activity over the years. Most recently was the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed over 200,000 people and caused hundreds of millions of dollars of destruction. Rivers are both visually prominent and very important to the character of Asia. Several of the rivers are among the largest in the world and others, particularly the Indus, Ganges, Yangtze, and Yellow have been called ‘cultural hearths’, places where early civilizations developed. Interestingly, three large Asian rivers are in the Russian north. The Ob, Yenisey and Lena Rivers have very sparse human population and activity due to their relative location. The mouths of each of these rivers empties into seas of the Arctic Ocean and are ice bound much of the year. Several rivers, such as the Mekong in the Southeast and the Euphrates in the Southwest, either border, or go through, multiple countries. They impact farmers, fishermen, tradesmen, and in some cases cause conflict. In every case, they provide transportation from the inland areas to the coasts. Natural resources are abundant in Asia. However, the problem is that they are very uneven in their distribution. While some nations are very rich from natural resources, some must spend what wealth they have to purchase goods to meet their basic needs. Where water is available, soils are the most important resource but oil and gas deposits are the most coveted natural gifts. Many natural resources have been stressed, or depleted, due to population pressure. Soil, timber and fish are examples of this resource problem. SELECTED POPULATION AND CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS A dot map of Asia’s human population of nearly four billion of the world’s six and a half to seven billion people shows several concentrations. A large grouping has grown in East China from the historic location along the Yellow (Huang) and Yangtze (Chang) Rivers to show a dense pattern over the Pacific third of the country. A second concentration is along the Ganges River in northern India, but it too has spread to virtually all of the Indian sub-continent, including Bangladesh and into Pakistan. Additional concentrations are seen in the Indonesian Island of Java and in the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. The Southeast Asian peninsular mainland and its archipelago is an area of high relief, of geologic instability, and more than one half billion people including the most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia. Not only does Asia have, by far, the largest human population of any of the six permanently inhabited continents, it also has the most square miles with no population at all due to the lack of population supporting potential. Overall Asia has high growth rates as compared to world standards. World history provides us with information about the ancient civilizations that developed in the Yellow, Yangtze, Ganges and Indus River valleys. From these hearths, innovations and technologies have spread throughout and changed the world. Asia has been the source of most of the world’s great religions, including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Shintoism, and other beliefs. Unfortunately, in addition to good deeds, religions can emphasize fundamentalism and nationalism and cause conflict.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • North America Other Continents
    Arctic Ocean Europe North Asia America Atlantic Ocean Pacific Ocean Africa Pacific Ocean South Indian America Ocean Oceania Southern Ocean Antarctica LAND & WATER • The surface of the Earth is covered by approximately 71% water and 29% land. • It contains 7 continents and 5 oceans. Land Water EARTH’S HEMISPHERES • The planet Earth can be divided into four different sections or hemispheres. The Equator is an imaginary horizontal line (latitude) that divides the earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres, while the Prime Meridian is the imaginary vertical line (longitude) that divides the earth into the Eastern and Western hemispheres. • North America, Earth’s 3rd largest continent, includes 23 countries. It contains Bermuda, Canada, Mexico, the United States of America, all Caribbean and Central America countries, as well as Greenland, which is the world’s largest island. North West East LOCATION South • The continent of North America is located in both the Northern and Western hemispheres. It is surrounded by the Arctic Ocean in the north, by the Atlantic Ocean in the east, and by the Pacific Ocean in the west. • It measures 24,256,000 sq. km and takes up a little more than 16% of the land on Earth. North America 16% Other Continents 84% • North America has an approximate population of almost 529 million people, which is about 8% of the World’s total population. 92% 8% North America Other Continents • The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of Earth’s Oceans. It covers about 15% of the Earth’s total surface area and approximately 21% of its water surface area.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 2001-2003 CATALOG UPDATE Changes Effective 2002-2003
    2001-2003 CATALOG UPDATE Changes effective 2002-2003 ASIAN STUDIES MINOR Students choosing this interdisciplinary minor have three options. Those whose primary interest is in East Asia must satisfy Option I. Those interested primarily in south or Pan-Asian topics must choose Option II. Those interested mainly in Asian American issues will choose Option III. Students may double-count two courses toward their major or toward a second minor. With the approval of the committee, courses taken in International Studies Exchange or Study Abroad Programs in Asian regions can be substituted for courses below. OPTION I East Asian Worksheet The East Asian Option requires successful completion of 18 hours of courses listed below: Intermediate proficiency in either Chinese or Japanese is mandatory. CHIN 212 Intermediate Chinese I CHIN 213 Intermediate Chinese II JAPN 201 Intermediate Japanese I JAPN 202 Intermediate Japanese II (total of 6 hours) Select the remaining 12 hours from the three areas listed below. Students must have at least one course from each of the three areas listed below. At least two courses should be at or above the 300-level. Area I LLFL 429 Studies in Chinese: 3rd Year I LLFL 429 Studies in Chinese: 3rd Year II JAPN 301 Advanced Japanese I JAPN 302 Advanced Japanese II ENG 225 World Literatures: Chronology—Anytime, Asia ENG 307 Twentieth Century World Literature—Asia ENG 320 Asian Literature ENG 322 Studies in World Cinema—Asia FREN 401 Francophone Indochinese Literature Area II HIST 141 East Asian Civilization I HIST 142 East Asian Civilization II HIST 434 History of Japan I HIST 435 History of Japan II HIST 448 History of China I HIST 449 History of China II GEOG 322 Geography of Asia Area III PHRE 347 Studies in Religion II—the Hindu, Buddhist, Japanese, Taoist, Yoga, or Chinese Traditions PHRE 362 Women in Buddhism PHRE 363 Women in Chinese Religion CHIN 311 Chinese Culture 1 OPTION II South or Pan-Asian Worksheet The South or Pan-Asian Option requires successful completion of at least 15 hours taken from the courses listed below.
    [Show full text]
  • Countries and Continents of the World: a Visual Model
    Countries and Continents of the World http://geology.com/world/world-map-clickable.gif By STF Members at The Crossroads School Africa Second largest continent on earth (30,065,000 Sq. Km) Most countries of any other continent Home to The Sahara, the largest desert in the world and The Nile, the longest river in the world The Sahara: covers 4,619,260 km2 The Nile: 6695 kilometers long There are over 1000 languages spoken in Africa http://www.ecdc-cari.org/countries/Africa_Map.gif North America Third largest continent on earth (24,256,000 Sq. Km) Composed of 23 countries Most North Americans speak French, Spanish, and English Only continent that has every kind of climate http://www.freeusandworldmaps.com/html/WorldRegions/WorldRegions.html Asia Largest continent in size and population (44,579,000 Sq. Km) Contains 47 countries Contains the world’s largest country, Russia, and the most populous country, China The Great Wall of China is the only man made structure that can be seen from space Home to Mt. Everest (on the border of Tibet and Nepal), the highest point on earth Mt. Everest is 29,028 ft. (8,848 m) tall http://craigwsmall.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/asia/ Europe Second smallest continent in the world (9,938,000 Sq. Km) Home to the smallest country (Vatican City State) There are no deserts in Europe Contains mineral resources: coal, petroleum, natural gas, copper, lead, and tin http://www.knowledgerush.com/wiki_image/b/bf/Europe-large.png Oceania/Australia Smallest continent on earth (7,687,000 Sq.
    [Show full text]
  • Working Paper Series
    東南亞研究中心 Southeast Asia Research Centre Frances Antoinette CRUZ Assistant Professor of German Department of European Languages University of the Philippines, Diliman Halfway between Emporia and Westphalia: Exploring Networks and Middle Powers in Asia Working Paper Series No. 179 July 2016 Halfway between Emporia and Westphalia: Exploring Networks and Middle Powers in Asia Abstract The significance of middle powers has been theorized since the Cold War in an effort to ascertain the function of states that did not satisfy the military component of great powers, yet possessed significant economic capability and regional influence to exert power in global affairs. In this essay, the role of middle powers in Asia will be discussed in the context of three concepts in international relations: firstly, the concept of middlepowermanship as seen from a network theory (Latour, 1996; Hafner-Burton, Kahler, & Montgomery, 2009); secondly, in the context of Acharya’s (2014) multiplex in Global IR; which expands the potentials of ‘middlepowermanship’ from a network perspective by incorporating various actants, and thirdly as a conduit for soft power flows, particularly in terms of a socializer (Thies, 2013) or norm diffuser. The second part of the essay will then explore various historical of networks within Asia and to what degree these models ‘fit’ modern interactions between nation states and other actors, and what roles middle powers and middlepowermanship could potentially play in these networks, in order to provide an impetus for further studies on middle powers in Asia. Frances Antoinette C. Cruz University of the Philippines Diliman 1. Middle Powers: Beyond capability? From a question of physical properties or geographical location, the definition of middle powers has been contested due to conceptual ambiguity and their relevance in the exercise of global affairs vis-à-vis great powers.
    [Show full text]
  • Geography Notes.Pdf
    THE GLOBE What is a globe? a small model of the Earth Parts of a globe: equator - the line on the globe halfway between the North Pole and the South Pole poles - the northern-most and southern-most points on the Earth 1. North Pole 2. South Pole hemispheres - half of the earth, divided by the equator (North & South) and the prime meridian (East and West) 1. Northern Hemisphere 2. Southern Hemisphere 3. Eastern Hemisphere 4. Western Hemisphere continents - the largest land areas on Earth 1. North America 2. South America 3. Europe 4. Asia 5. Africa 6. Australia 7. Antarctica oceans - the largest water areas on Earth 1. Atlantic Ocean 2. Pacific Ocean 3. Indian Ocean 4. Arctic Ocean 5. Antarctic Ocean WORLD MAP ** NOTE: Our textbooks call the “Southern Ocean” the “Antarctic Ocean” ** North America The three major countries of North America are: 1. Canada 2. United States 3. Mexico Where Do We Live? We live in the Western & Northern Hemispheres. We live on the continent of North America. The other 2 large countries on this continent are Canada and Mexico. The name of our country is the United States. There are 50 states in it, but when it first became a country, there were only 13 states. The name of our state is New York. Its capital city is Albany. GEOGRAPHY STUDY GUIDE You will need to know: VOCABULARY: equator globe hemisphere continent ocean compass WORLD MAP - be able to label 7 continents and 5 oceans 3 Large Countries of North America 1. United States 2. Canada 3.
    [Show full text]
  • Interdisciplinary Minors
    03-05 GEN ID Minors 253-257 9/30/03 1:51 PM Page 253 (Black plate) 2 0 3 - 5 Students should consult the General/Graduate Catalog INTERDISCIPLINARY and advisors concerning course credits available through MINORS Study Abroad, in Africa and possibly elsewhere. Students are encouraged to pursue study in an academic Additions or substitutions must be approved by the minor to provide contrasting and parallel study to the African/African-American Studies Committee and the Vice major. Serving to complement the major and help students President for Academic Affairs. further expand and integrate knowledge, academic minors are offered in a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary ASIAN STUDIES subjects. Students who choose to pursue minors should Home Division: Social Science seek advice from faculty members in their minor disciplines Students choosing this interdisciplinary minor have three as well as from their advisors in their major program. options. Those whose primary interest is in East Asia must satisfy Option I. Those interested primarily in South or Minimum requirements for all Academic Minor Pan-Asian topics must choose Option II. Those interested Programs: mainly in Asian American issues will choose Option III. 1. A minimum GPA of 2.0 for all coursework within the Students may double-count two courses toward their major or toward a second minor. With the approval of the Academic Minor Program. Interdisciplinary 2. A minimum of nine credit hours of the coursework for committee, courses taken in International Studies Academic Minor Programs must be taken through Exchange or Study Abroad Programs in Asian regions can Minors Truman State University, unless the discipline specifies a be substituted for courses below.
    [Show full text]
  • International Course Or Experience Requirement Pre-Approved Course List (As of 3/26/2021)
    International Course or Experience Requirement Pre-approved Course List (as of 3/26/2021) Course Prefix Course Number Course Title ABM 427 Global Agri-Food Industries and Markets ADV 334 International Advertising ANP 321 Anthropology of Social Movements ANP 370 Culture, Health, and Illness ANP 410 Anthropology of Latin America ANP 414 Anthropology of South Asia ANP 415 China: Culture and Society ANP 416 Anthropology of Southern Africa ANP 417 Introduction to Islam in Africa ANP 419 Anthropology of the Middle East ANP 431 Gender, Environment and Development ANP 436 Globalization and Justice: Issues in Political and Legal Anthropology ANP 437 Asian Emigrant Communities: A Global Perspective ANP 455 Archaeology of Ancient Egypt ANR 475 International Studies in Agriculture and Natural Resources ANS 480 Animal Systems in International Development ARB 491 Intercultural Communication and Business Etiquette in the Arab World ASN 401 East Asian Cultures (W) BE 491 Special Topics: Entrepreneurial Engineering in Global Health Systems CLA 360 Ancient Novel in English Translation (W) CLA 412 Senior Seminar: Greek and Roman Religion (W) COM 310 Intercultural Communication EC 306 Comparative Economic Systems EC 310 Economics of Developing Countries EC 340 Survey of International Economics EC 406 Economic Analysis of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (W) EC 410 Issues in the Economics of Developing Countries EC 412 Economic Analysis of Latin America (W) EC 413 Economic Analysis of Asia (W) EC 414 Economic Analysis of Sub–Saharan Africa
    [Show full text]
  • Class of 2024 Department Catalog And
    Class of 2024 Department Catalog and Guide to Academic Programs Department of Geography and - 0 – Environmental Engineering - 2 - DEPARTMENT CATALOG GUIDE TO THE ACADEMIC PROGRAMS CLASS OF 2024 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................. 1 MESSAGE TO CADETS ............................................................................... 3 AFTER GRADUATION ................................................................................ 6 ACADEMIC AWARDS - PREVIOUS AWARDEES ................................... 10 CENTERS FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE ........................................... 11 PROGRAMS FOR THE CLASS OF 2024 .................................................... 14 ACADEMIC MAJOR DESCRIPTIONS ..................................................... 15 GEOGRAPHY ............................................................................................. 17 GEOGRAPHY MINOR ............................................................................... 21 HUMAN GEOGRAPHY COMPLEMENTARY SUPPORT COURSES ... 22 HUMAN GEOGRAPHY COMPLEMENTARY SUPPORT COURSES ... 26 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY COMPLEMENTARY SUPPORT COURSES 27 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE ................................................................ 28 ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING..................................................... 32 GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION SCIENCE .............................................. 35 ACADEMIC COUNSELORS FOR AY 20-21 .............................................. 38 COURSE DIRECTORS FOR AY
    [Show full text]
  • Educators Guide
    EDUCATORS GUIDE 02 | Supervolcanoes Volcanism is one of the most creative and destructive processes on our planet. It can build huge mountain ranges, create islands rising from the ocean, and produce some of the most fertile soil on the planet. It can also destroy forests, obliterate buildings, and cause mass extinctions on a global scale. To understand volcanoes one must first understand the theory of plate tectonics. Plate tectonics, while generally accepted by the geologic community, is a relatively new theory devised in the late 1960’s. Plate tectonics and seafloor spreading are what geologists use to interpret the features and movements of Earth’s surface. According to plate tectonics, Earth’s surface, or crust, is made up of a patchwork of about a dozen large plates and many smaller plates that move relative to one another at speeds ranging from less than one to ten centimeters per year. These plates can move away from each other, collide into each other, slide past each other, or even be forced beneath each other. These “subduction zones” are generally where the most earthquakes and volcanoes occur. Yellowstone Magma Plume (left) and Toba Eruption (cover page) from Supervolcanoes. 01 | Supervolcanoes National Next Generation Science Standards Content Standards - Middle School Content Standards - High School MS-ESS2-a. Use plate tectonic models to support the HS-ESS2-a explanation that, due to convection, matter Use Earth system models to support cycles between Earth’s surface and deep explanations of how Earth’s internal and mantle. surface processes operate concurrently at different spatial and temporal scales to MS-ESS2-e form landscapes and seafloor features.
    [Show full text]
  • Jumping Scale in Southeast Asia
    Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 2002, volume 20, pages 647 ^ 668 DOI:10.1068/d16s Geographies of knowing, geographies of ignorance: jumping scale in Southeast Asia Willem van Schendelô Asia Studies in Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, Oudezijds Achterburgwal 237, 1012 DL Amsterdam, The Netherlands; e-mail: [email protected] Received 6 February 2002; in revised form 27 March 2002 Abstract. `Area studies' use a geographical metaphor to visualise and naturalise particular social spaces as well as a particular scale of analysis. They produce specific geographies of knowing but also create geographies of ignorance. Taking Southeast Asia as an example, in this paper I explore how areas are imagined and how area knowledge is structured to construct area `heartlands' as well as area `border- lands'. This is illustrated by considering a large region of Asia (here named Zomia) that did not make it as a world area in the area dispensation after World War 2 because it lacked strong centres of state formation, was politically ambiguous, and did not command sufficient scholarly clout. As Zomia was quartered and rendered peripheral by the emergence of strong communities of area specialists of East, Southeast, South, and Central Asia, the production of knowledge about it slowed down. I suggest that we need to examine more closely the academic politics of scale that create and sustain area studies, at a time when the spatialisation of social theory enters a new, uncharted terrain. The heuristic impulse behind imagining areas, and the high-quality, contextualised knowledge that area studies produce, may be harnessed to imagine other spatial configurations, such as `crosscutting' areas, the worldwide honeycomb of borderlands, or the process geographies of transnational flows.
    [Show full text]
  • THE FORGOTTEN CONTINENT Fossil Finds in China Are Challenging Ideas About the Evolution of Modern Humans and Our Closest Relatives
    NEWS FEATURE THE FORGOTTEN CONTINENT Fossil finds in China are challenging ideas about the evolution of modern humans and our closest relatives. n the outskirts of Beijing, a small BY JANE QIU government is setting up a US$1.1-million limestone mountain named Dragon laboratory at the IVPP to extract and sequence Bone Hill rises above the surround- spread around the globe — and relegated Asia ancient DNA. Oing sprawl. Along the northern side, a path to a kind of evolutionary cul-de-sac. The investment comes at a time when palaeo- leads up to some fenced-off caves that draw But the tale of Peking Man has haunted anthropologists across the globe are starting to DEAGOSTINI/GETTY 150,000 visitors each year, from schoolchildren generations of Chinese researchers, who have pay more attention to Asian fossils and how to grey-haired pensioners. It was here, in 1929, struggled to understand its relationship to they relate to other early hominins — creatures that researchers discovered a nearly complete modern humans. “It’s a story without an end- that are more closely related to humans than ancient skull that they determined was roughly ing,” says Wu Xinzhi, a palaeontologist at the to chimps. Finds in China and other parts of half a million years old. Dubbed Peking Man, Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Ver- Asia have made it clear that a dazzling variety of it was among the earliest human remains ever tebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology Homo species once roamed the continent. And uncovered, and it helped to convince many (IVPP) in Beijing.
    [Show full text]
  • WGBH/NOVA #4220 Making North America: Origins KIRK JOHNSON
    WGBH/NOVA #4220 Making North America: Origins KIRK JOHNSON (Sant Director, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History): North America, the land that we love: it looks pretty familiar, don’t you think? Well, think again! The ground that we walk on is full of surprises, if you know where to look. 00:25 As a geologist, the Grand Canyon is perhaps the best place in the world. Every single one of these layers tells its own story about what North America was like when that layer was deposited. So, are you ready for a little time-travelling? 00:38 I’m Kirk Johnson, the director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and I’m taking off on the fieldtrip of a lifetime,… 00:50 Look at that rock there. That is crazy! …to find out, “How did our amazing continent get to be the way it is?” EMILY WOLIN (Geophysicist): Underneath Lake Superior, that’s about 30 miles of volcanic rock. KIRK JOHNSON: Thirty miles of volcanic rock? How did the landscape shape the creatures that lived and died here? Fourteen-foot-long fish, in Kansas. That’s what I’m telling you! 01:14 And how did we turn the rocks of our homeland… Ho-ho. Oh, man! …into riches? This thing is phenomenal. In this episode, we hunt down the clues to our continent’s epic past. 01:26 You can see new land being formed, right in front of your eyes. Why does this golf course hold the secret to the rise and fall of the Rockies? What forces nearly cracked North America in half? And is it possible that the New York City skyline… I’ve always wanted to do this.
    [Show full text]