Earth Story 1. The Time Travellers (1 of 20)

Earth Story

When and how was the Earth formed? What is the link between earthquakes, volcanoes and the creation of the continents? How do mountains affect our climate? What triggers Ice Ages? This book and the accompanying television series answer these and many other questions, telling the amazing story of our planet and its constantly changing nature.

Two centuries ago, scientists began to investigate the history of the Earth by examining the rocks beneath its surface and thus began to formulate the astonishing concept of geological time. Using this discovery as their starting point, the authors of Earth Story unravel the fascinating history of the Earth from its earliest beginnings to the dawn of human civilisation.

Two themes emerge as this compelling story unfolds. Firstly, from its molten core to the outermost reaches of its atmosphere, our planet operates as one vast interlinked system. Aspects of our landscape and climate that seem at first quite distinct - such as earthquakes, volcanoes, glaciers and monsoons - are in fact intimately related to each other. Secondly, the active geology of our world has been vital to the origin of life and the progress of evolution. The authors tackle these ideas, using full-colour illustrations, stunning photography and the latest scientific thinking. By describing the remarkable forces that formed and shape our ever-changing world, Earth Story gives us a new understanding of the planet and our place within its evolution.

Episode 1: The Time Travellers
Geologists, who study the Earth, seek to understand the processes that have shaped our planet throughout its history, creating the world we see around us. To do so, they must reconstruct the Earth's past. Yet how can we tell what happened in distant epochs when there were no witnesses to record events? Around 200 years ago scientists first began to realize that clues to the past lay all around them, in the rocks that make up the Earth's surface. as they learnt how to read these rocks, they began a journey back through time which geologists continue to this day.

MANNING: Today, we're in the midst of a scientific revolution in our understanding of the Earth and our relationship to it.
It 's a revolution that's had a big impact on my own thinking.
My name is Aubrey Manning.
I've spent my career as a biologist, but I now realise that those of us who study the creatures that live on the Earth have a lot to learn from those who study the Earth itself.
As a biologist, what I find so fascinating is that as Earth's scientists learn more and more, they're revealing just how intimately life and the planet are connected.
We'll never fully understand the history of living organisms unless we first understand Earth's own story.