Arte - Voyage of the Continents Series 2 (2014) Part 4 Central America

– Original title “La Valse des Continents” –

“The Earth's great rhythm permeates everything, and man is caught up in it, in spirit as much as in body. ”

This second series of 5 x 52min tells the animated story of the genesis of our continents. This real waltz of land masses sculptures our landscapes. It will take us this time in Africa and in Americas. Since its formation, 4,55 billion years, our Earth is submitted to strengths of an incredible power. The earth's crust is in perpetual evolution, redrawing indefatigably the world map. Continents assemble and part, victims of collisions and tearings. Perceptible movements through earthquakes, through volcanic raids and through tsunamis. In this “tectonic waltz “of lands and seas, real geologic epic, we follow passionate and fascinating scientists. With them, we travel more than a billion years all over the world to reconstitute the puzzle of our continents and understand the indefatigably sculptured grand landscapes. The continents are not eternally fixed in their majesty. Far from being immutable points of reference, they are born, grow, and finally succumb to the effects of time, like living beings. The heart of our planet creates and moves them in a never-ending journey. The continents come together and separate, victims of collisions and tectonic subduction. Life in the mantle can be perceived through earthquakes and tsunamis. From place to place, volcanic action adds a spectacular, often violent touch to the Earth's surface. Around a core as hot as the sun, the Earth's crust is perpetually evolving and redrawing the map of continents and oceans. This four billion year dynamic is perceptible to people who are trained to see it, people with a third eye the eye of the geologist. To understand it, our eyes must be re-educated by looking at some of nature's lessons offered by the Earth, where we can learn to decipher its grandest creations, in landscapes that are continually being sculpted. Via the epic of continental drift, we travel to all 4 corners of the planet, to meet scientists who are carrying out state-of-the-art research on the most emblematic landscapes of each geological event. With these scientists, and thanks to their work, we discover the sites in a new light – landscapes that we often see but rarely look at closely. The journey also establishes the key reference points of life alongside the geologic time scale - the appearance of life, of plants, of terrestrial life, dinosaurs and Man punctuate the geologic time scale.

Directed by Alexis de Favitski ; Co-Produced by La Compagnie des Taxi-Brousse,CNRS Images and ARTE France in participation with CNC,TFO, Ushuaia TV and Discovery Networks Asia Pacific.

Part 4 Central America

Between North and South America, the forces of the Earth have made a very small place for what is called Central America and a tectonic plate the Caribbean plate. This plate is essentially a marine world which history Thierry Calmus and Fran?ois Michel know perfectly well. But at the confines of the territory, four vast masses are compressing, crushing and shaking this “paradise on earth”. They are North and South America and the oceans, Atlantic and Pacific. Earthquakes and volcanic eruption are frequent in Central America. Dominique Gibert innovates volcano analysis in Guadeloupe, at La Soufriere, while Jose Luis Arce watches over Mexican volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire. As for earthquakes… many teams in Haiti are hoping one day to predict the unleashing of the forces stored in the earth which the friction between plates will occasionally release. But the symbolic image of Central America is the junction of the two giants of the North and South meeting in Panama. In addition, the creation of Panama solely changed the fauna of the Americas, and transformed the Earth's oceans.

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