Making North America: Origins | Full Documentary | NOVA | PBS

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

I’m a retired environmental geologist and if you haven’t considered geology as a career, you should. It consistently has the highest job satisfaction of any profession. I think this is because working as a geologist offers the two things people really want most in their working lives: autonomy and variety, and the pay and status are quite good, too. No one dislikes a geologist, our priorities are to help society and the the environment, it has a public trust ethos. It’s also great for those who love the outdoors, travel and adventure, but there are office- and laboratory-based options, too. In my whole career, I was never bored for one day. If not as a career, consider taking an introductory geology course. I had never even thought of geology, or even science, as a career, but when I took my first geology course in college to satisfy the basic physical science requirement, I fell in love with the science. Even if you don’t, you’ll enjoy being out and looking at our beautiful Earth so much more. There’s a lot of math and science to learn, but if I can do it, anyone can, I had no such college prep at all. Becoming a geologist was the best decisions of my life!

[@greenthumb8266]

Nice to hear this, I’ve met a few geologists in my life and sorry to say they had no respect for the planet and worked for the oil industry.

[@aidankeller1717]

I'll probably become a geologist later on in life, right after I retire from being a botanist or some sort of plant scientist.

[@christinasornbutnark1208]

I wish I’d seen this video & ur message when I was young. Geology is fascinating. Someone like you or you if given the opportunity should speak to young folks. 😊

[@liberatedwoman]

I went back to college in my 50s, to complete my degree. I took an upper level geology course because I was curious. It was, without a doubt, one of the most interesting, challenging, and addictive subjects I’ve ever studied. The professor was one of those people who really loved his subject, and loved getting students interested. 😎

[@thomasbell7033]

I was an English/journalism major, and took geology classes for my science requirements because I'd been told it would be easy. It wasn't, but I loved it, and eventually took more than was required.

[@fastbuckwu]

We love PBS and NOVA documentaries!

[@larryparis925]

Got that right............ Yes!

[@James-oc7gp]

🐂💩

[@cosmicwanderer4306]

Gosh!!! In an hour or so, I Learned the History of our Land of 550 Million years. Kudos for the great geologists and collaborators in bringing superb teachings.

[@DavidWasman]

Thanks for uploading more content, lately. Especially the full episodes.

[@brodebrode]

Yes!!!!

[@Mr.Paul_Revere]

@@brodebrode hh

[@dancingwiththedogsdj]

I always always love these nice hour long PBS shows.... Been a fan since I remember watching anything beyond cartoons. Thank you for doing what you do! ❤️

[@BackYardScience2000]

Same! Grew up watching it in the early 90's and have been watching ever since.

[@rsc9520]

Me too. I really like the NOVA documentaries - they are outstanding!!!

[@dancingwiththedogsdj]

@@rsc9520 couldn't agree more and I always tried to appreciate them even when much younger I mean that's how good they are even on topics I don't necessarily go for. I try to watch them anyways.

[@katsmeow2775]

This one is too slowwwww. Too much extraneous fill.

[@Backroad_Junkie]

This was the first part of a three-part NOVA on the Making Of North America. One of the best NOVA series I'd seen. I hope they post the other two parts...

[@novapbs]

They are coming! Next one will post in 4 weeks.

[@Backroad_Junkie]

@@novapbs Excellent! If you're taking requests, "In The Path Of A Killer Volcano" is THE best USGS volcano doc. Also, the 5 part series, "The Brain"... 😁

[@lisavalentine8877]

@@novapbs Thank You! I've been looking for the rest!

[@mikemondano3624]

Why? You said you already saw it.

[@MossyMozart]

@Backroad_Junkie - True. One the greatest series I saw recently was "The Planets:..." There was an episode on Mars, another on Jupiter, another on Saturn, another on the Ice Worlds. Catch them if you can - they are currently airing on PBS, the free videos section.

[@heather8187]

This has been one of my favorite episodes for years! (The whole trilogy is great!)

[@southwesthardypalms]

So proud to be a Southwest native. I think the Southwest is the most spectacular region of the country geology, plant, and animal wise. I never want to live anywhere else, because there isn’t anywhere like it! Such a fantastic continent as a whole.

[@theobserver9131]

I've lived in some beautiful places, and been grateful for it, but I never understood feeling pride for living somewhere, or even having been born there. Isn't pride something you feel when you work hard to accomplish something? How can one feel pride for just having something given to them, or just being somewhere? btw; I'm very grateful for the time I lived in the Southwest. It is one of the most beautiful and spiritually rich places in the world.

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

I saw similar “sand boils” in San Francisco after the Loma Prieta Earthquake. I was one of the few who went into my office the Friday after, and saw several along the Embarcadero where the commuter ferry was still running, which is in places underlain by liquifiable, (loose and saturated) sand deposits. A recorded company message notified everyone to stay home on Wednesday and Thursday, after the Tuesday earthquake, but didn’t say anything about that Friday, so I went in to an empty office. By the time I could show my colleagues in the Geology Department, the weekend rains had washed them away. There were no cellphones then, or I would have taken photos. A once-in-a-lifetime sight, worth going in on a day when I could have stayed home and still been paid for it, as it turned out. I also got calls from curious out-of-town colleagues, traveling on assignment. “No, the whole Bay Bridge didn’t collapse, only one section of it” I told them. They were getting some crazy reports overseas, but the collapse of the freeway Cypress Structure killed 60 people, it was really awful.

[@Eddyloveninin]

Thank you for making it available on KZbin

[@nancyjh9618]

This doc is absolutely incredible! My husband and i enjoyed it so much and we laughed at the good humor that went into the making of it! Gorgeous simulation! Such a fantastic ride with the origin of our beautiful planet earth. Thank you all so much for this treasure!!!

[@Perfectionseeker1967]

39:34 Sharp edges generally means it's been "freshly broken", where stones that have flowed down rivers tend to be so battered up that they've been smoothed to a more rounded shape.

[@jewdd1989]

I’m on a roll so far watching 3 docs in one evening. Thank you for sharing these documentaries, there’s something about learning of our past and Earth’s history that’s refreshing yet meaningful. This one in particular might be my favorite as I love this country, this continent and who would’ve thought NY of all places was so stunning with massive mountains. It’s good to know what once was

[@johnqueen2754]

I live in the mountains of north Carolina. At one time in the very long past the African continent collided with the north American plat and created the Appalachian mountains. a piece of the African continent broke off , in Brevard NC. The Appalachian mts was as high as the Rockies. but have eroded down. from Raleigh all the way to the outer banks is the top of the app. mountains as they wore down over time. I love it. I am learning.

[@BackYardScience2000]

It wasn't just Africa, but there were 3 different mountain building events that built the Appalachian mountains. They were higher than the Himalayan mountains at one point. Volcanic islands that were out in the early Iapetus Ocean.

[@coreydriggers3324]

Yeah I was kinda wondering the whole time why they never mentioned it. It's actually hard to find videos presented in this fashion that focus on the Eastern coast. I wish it wasn't though, from what I have learned it seems really very interesting. Would love to see an all inclusive one similar to this style of video.

[@johnqueen2754]

@coreydriggers3324 if you ever run across a video talking about it ,please send it my way. Thanks

[@aceshr9499]

Everything about NOVA is beautifully educating. Thank you

[@nancyfahey7518]

That was the GREATEST introduction I have ever seen.

[@badigalinkin6461]

I grew in Montana and was and am fascinated by geology.

[@6Planet]

This is surprisingly good quality. Props to the CGI team, and I learned serveral things I didn't even know after taking Geology classes in college.

[@theobserver9131]

Surprising? Nova is very reliably high quality.

[@OzzieBenzC300]

I wept like a baby overwhelmed by the immensity and beauty of the Rockies and how it formed. Love this kinds of shows!!!!

[@MariaMunoz-Nebbia]

Aside from the such interesting information given to us, I love the animation provided to us to have a visual of the various processes that happened millions of years ago. Awesome and informative content! Thanks to everyone involved in the production of this documentary. ❤

[@tonydabaloney]

This was a great video. Amazing stuff. I'm 71yrs old and looking back I wish I had gone in to geology or vulcanology. I've always been a rock collector, but wish I had made a living at it. I still want to visit some of the places mentioned here.

[@MossyMozart]

@anthonylowery1798 - Have you ever seen the Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz film, "The Long, Long Trailer"? You might get a kick out of Lucy's rock collecting. It shows periodically on "Tuner Classic Movies (TCM)".

[@tonydabaloney]

Great video, but I have one complaint. You didn't spend much time on the east coast and the Smokey Mountains. I've studied their history and find it as fascinating as the rockies, if not more as they are very,very old.

[@zyxw2000]

There were 2 more episodes after this one.

[@vavilovasvetlana9044]

Your channel is impressive with its unusual non- repetitive shootings. Thanks to all this I find out what I don't know about our planet. Thanks for huge pleasure!

[@CantGetEnoughBach]

Thanks Kirk! Between you and Nick Zentner, I have learned a lot, though the most important thing I’ve learned about geology is that I know very little. So much to discover and so little time! Looking forward to your next visit to Seattle and GLC.

[@aidankeller1717]

Nick Zentner is the goat! And he happens to be a (somewhat) local geologist.

[@tiffanym4202]

Kirk did an awesome job and I learned a bunch. Nick has been a favorite of mine for years. I actually drove out to Dry Falls and the scab-lands when I visited Spokane because of Nick.

[@ReelSpider]

love the "original air date"... always show this.

[@EmanuelNielsen-fb6ft]

What an amazing history of how our little blue marble formed! . Thank you for uploading full episodes..

[@JordanSmith507]

It's like what the history channel use to be like but accurate.

[@marzymarrz5172]

This was a wonderful series. I'm enjoying it the second time after many years.

[@rsc9520]

Me too !!!

[@jsoo67]

I'm a bit of a geologist myself. My field specialty is crack rock and it can be a bit dangerous at times, but the pay can be good, while providing a service to the community.

[@gdroege44]

What an amazing history of how our little blue marble formed! 😳

[@JonnoPlays]

NOVA ♥ 🌌

[@lefthandeddoghouse3586]

Pretty amazing video all-in-all; thank you Nova. Interesting thing about being a structural geologist is that we always ask questions about things could have formed instead of just accepting theories/premises blindly. I like the ongoing consideration regarding the flaws with the old Stanford extended faralon plate shallow angle subduction to form the Rockies. Geophysics and more detailed analyses of basement rock geomagnetism is shedding some light on other very plausible cases for formation of the laramides and thrust-faulted belts extending into BC/Yukon. I did my undergraduate studies in the late 70's so I have had some time to absorb and grow in knowledge. I did some geophysical analyses in 1979 and was amazed at how taking a core sample of an inclined bedding plain of shale in the Ca coastal range could reveal so much more information than just land building over time. Again, thank you Nova for keeping the brain cells active...

[@conniedellinger4089]

Enjoying this - without any silly exaggerations ❤

[@gary3270]

That was a great documentary!

[@SchitzNGigglez]

Geology is the study of rocks but geography is where it’s at!

[@JackBQuick79]

This content really satisfied my inner nerd and now I can't get enough. Excellent video.

[@Antigone1Evenstar]

Pretty wild how things ended up developing geologically speaking.

[@jampasurprenant1794]

Absolutely amazing to learn about the North American continental .

[@صدامحسين-ص3ش]

Please 🥺 more Episodes like this. Thank you

[@barbaraflores3506]

It always fascinates me, watching these...great programs. As I love geology, like my father. Whom studied it. Thank you for sharing. I like PBS and Nova. So educational.

[@jymac12]

This is fantastic!

[@Talucalake]

I can’t wait to show my 11 year old son this amazing footage on our flat screen! Thank you Nova

[@mrsgrammy3552]

Fantastic video !! Thank you !!

[@Sillywabbit5]

Best documentary EVER💯😊

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

I love Utah, it’s such a beautiful and geologically fascinating place. Someday I want to go back and visit all of its five national parks. I think two or three of them were created since my last visit in the 90s. I’ve seen the wonderful Zion NP, but never Bryce Canyon NP, which is supposed to be great, too. It’s a bit more out if the way from the major highways.

[@ryleearnold5770]

Bryce is beautiful but the lesser known ones, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef and just insane landscape. I hope you get to come back to see them!

[@johnshields6852]

Geology is so fascinating, but the eons are hard to comprehend in human lifetime scale, can I feel even more insignificant

[@brit0309]

And really cool. The features of the video were fun and exciting and I really like the host, he’s well spoken, happy, and very smart.

[@mandyleexart6396]

Yes love these full episodes!!! ❤

[@growsomeplace9987]

Great show!

[@lsudx479]

The NOVA theme song is one of my favorites of all time.

[@harrietharlow9929]

So happy to see the Midcontinent Rift System mentioned as had the Rift succeeded, North America would be a very differentpace. . Also, I LOVE Nova!

[@holeshothunter5544]

Had the rift Succeeded?? Succeeded implies planning, Harriet. Rock doesn't plan.

[@harrietharlow9929]

@@holeshothunter5544 Do you have anything better to do than to nitpick? The other peopIe seem to be abIe to understand my meaning. Usually, a reasonably inteIIigent indviduaI understands that rock cannot pIan. My statement was more metaphoricaI than stating a hard fact.

[@katsmeow2775]

And still provides earthquakes today!

[@charlessarver1637]

Right on you did a show on how my home was made. Thank you!

[@s.w.s.7154]

Thankyou kindly for everything! Great show.

[@deecooper1567]

At 75 yo, I sure am learning a lot 😊. Thank you for sharing this 👵🏻👩‍🌾❣️

[@marzymarrz5172]

I'm glad that you are out there telling and showing us where we came from. Nice.

[@roselightinstorms727]

Good for You All

[@larryparis925]

Great info, graphics, simulations, and drone shots. Much appreciated.

[@psycotria]

It was never shown that ~300MM ya, Laurentia was near the Equator. It would have been nice to include the mire forests of the Carboniferous Age. The ice ages of the late Paleozoic caused sea level changes that laid down shales and limestones, with interspersed mire forest peats that became the Illinois Basin coal seams, with their amazing fossilized plants.

[@DrSmooth2000]

You seem versed. What do you think about the fact our only climate analog would be those Ice Ages just before or in the Permian-Triassic EE? It has alarmed me.

[@GregDaniels-yo4od]

Would have nice to mention how Washington and Oregon were accreted to the Continent from various island groups carried across the Pacific. The geology of the Pacific Northwest is awesome!

[@Muhammadahmed-mk7li]

Thank you for uploading full episodes.

[@brit0309]

This was really really good!

[@royparrish2515]

The Farallon uplift is under huge debate with new evidence of other strip continental collisions as well as the later Baja BC 'whale' As this is over a decade old, there are new things that have been found out over the last few years that date some of this.

[@dontcallmetravis]

Really fun video, and well done. Quite a pleasure to watch!

[@gaminawulfsdottir3253]

Starts at 2:37. No... correction: there's a second synoptic introduction. Content doesn't start until 3:47.

[@angiesadler2896]

I really enjoyed this. It is too bad you didn't cover the origins of the Appalachians.

[@MossyMozart]

@angiesadler2896 - Maybe the other 2 episodes will.

[@ChrisGrahamkedzuel]

Aw really? I mean you wanna talk about a geologic gold mine…the Appalachians are it. And they never get talked about. They grew higher than the Himalayas.

[@Georgann-x3l]

Tks for uploading ❤🦋

[@kasondaleigh]

Fascinating!

[@MossyMozart]

@NOVA PBS Official - Please ignore the venom of some of the posters. They seem to have some kind of anti-PBS agenda. I love and appreciate "NOVA" for many years.

[@Aquatarkus96]

41:52 This whole section may need to be remade soon since we have learned more since 2015 :) Theres new evidence coming to light that the Rockies may have formed through other processes. The farillon plate my not have been the culprit, but there is evidence for a younger and shallower vertically oriented slab of crust that had been pinched off and has folded on itself as it sunk like ribbon candy... The going idea as I understand it is that the NA plate hit some kind of fixed micro continent or island arc out in the Pacific (similar to Australia moving north to hit Indonesia), providing the fixed westward subduction needed to make that weird bit of folded up crust and kicking off the formation of the rockies

[@tangobravo168]

I've seen the videos suggesting this. He presents a pretty compelling case.

[@Mistydazzle]

Ahh - Ribbon candy - I can hear Nick's voice now... The professional research by a multitude of scientists, presented to the general public by Zentner, has been invaluable in understanding the Earth story.

[@garygraham4679]

HUGE PROBLEM guys! WHY did the heavy Basalt harden and form FIRST??? The Granite was there, why didn't it float up and harden first?? If you don't know JUST SAY SO. But don't just skip over an obvious question.

[@UQRXD]

Science makes up very much when they don't know.

[@robertterrell3065]

This was really great. That being said, about a month ago I watched one of Nick Zentner's videos. He's a geology professor at Central Washington University for the last 30 years. And, he's now teaching new theories of how the Rockies formed. I won't even try to explain it except to say that new evidence shows that forces from the EASTERN side of the continent actually formed the Rockies, not the subducting plate in the western side. It's worth checking out, because when I took physical geology in 1971, plate tectonics was still a theory and my professor mentioned it to us, but he didn't accept it and he said so. Theories change as new evidence comes to light. It's worth it to check it out, imho. I have no idea, just an interest in learning about geology.

[@George_Washington420]

This was an awesome video

[@aaronhanks3791]

Anyone else catch the sound effects from the original Resident Evil inventory screen? (25:20)

[@thegatesofdawn...1386]

Nice video. I have loved rocks since I was a child. ❤

[@jsn_alva]

I'm not totally convinced with Disasi. Once the short term -injured players are back, what do you guys think about a back four with Chilwell, Colwill, James, Gusto?

[@michelebriere9569]

How deep does "shallow" mean?

[@angelitabecerra]

Where is Mexico in this documentary? It's part of North America. And y'all barely touched on Canada

[@jimc.goodfellas]

It looks like it's going to be a series..I would guess they will touch on stuff in those countries later

[@zyxw2000]

There were 2 more episodes after this one.

[@mascadadelpantion8018]

We all have to remember who real americans truly are!!!!!! All the tribes That were here before any of us, should be taught in schools. We should never say Indians and start saying native americans........ ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!

[@dekutree64]

The young earth creationists have been doing some fascinating genetic research on the history of the Native Americans lately kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4DIhZ5-a5t0bLc kzbin.info/www/bejne/kGOpnZaHfL6Mo9U

[@RealMTBAddict]

But was it called America before the white man showed up and named it?

[@larryinNH]

😂😂😂

[@zyxw2000]

Most of us do say "Native Americans." But that's irrelevant to the million-year-old geology discussed here. You have a chip on your shoulder.

[@katc4315]

​@zyxw2000 i didn't hear any of the other North American Countries mention in this video. I only seen a couple of USA states and mentioning central America where was he refering too? I just seen a a map lining dividing USA from The South. Thats how people get misinformed geographically. North America has 3 Countries.

[@jotaylove]

Very interesting. Never been, sadly, on vacation or able to see any other parts of north America. Unbelievable what is right under our feet and don't even know it

[@elizabethashman6120]

Excellent work. I loved this!!!!!!

[@2bulrs958]

With so much of the continent made from it, people often take it for granite.

[@beecee793]

When is talking about the ancient lava flows in the US being 2,000 miles long, the close captioning says "1,000 miles long." Not the end of the world, but people watching without audio will get fairly big misinformation.

[@MossyMozart]

@beecee793 - Obviously an error. If the captioning was done via software, programs are far from foolproof. Even experienced human transcribers make mistakes.

[@beecee793]

@@MossyMozart ? Yes, that's why I pointed it out. It's a big enough error it is worth fixing imo, thus I pointed it out.

[@bevinboulder5039]

Excellent!

[@yeahyeah5976]

Randy Marsh is pretty awesome ngl

[@21stCenturyNature]

Loving these 3D visuals... Looks like NOVA finally downloaded blender 😂

[@garywjensen1]

The Olympic Peninsula in Washington State is all Bassalt, blown up by Yellowstone volcano when the area sat over Yellowstone some 40 million years ago.

[@mbvoelker8448]

Overdramatized, but excellent graphics. A good adjunct to some of the better KZbin geologists, but not a substitute for, say, Nick Zenter or Myron Cook.

[@zyxw2000]

He's not a YT geologist, but a director of the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian.

[@mbvoelker8448]

@@zyxw2000 Which doesn't mean that the video isn't over-dramatized and shallow. :) Good intro to the subject for a complete beginner, but lacking in depth, complexity, and detail.

[@zyxw2000]

@@mbvoelker8448 There were 2 more shows in the series after this one.

[@MossyMozart]

@@mbvoelker8448 - How can you possibly call this episode "over-dramatized"? The EPIC geological formation of our very planet[s North American continent?? ----------------- "NOVA" episodes are aimed at scientifically interested lay persons. How can the program squeeze a PHD degree into a series of 3 55-minute episodes? Have you never seen "NOVA" before? It has been on the air for decades, THE BEST program on TV.

[@JohnHSully]

@@zyxw2000the national museum of history hides more information then they share. You have no idea the extent of their treachery.

[@sunshyne_8624]

What about Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs? It's rocks stand up as well.

[@MossyMozart]

@sunshyne_8624 - I so miss seeing the Garden of the Gods every day and living in Manitou Springs , but they are not the only rocks formed that way, as you can see from the likewise example they showed.

[@joefin5900]

Go AB! Best Super at PMG!

[@glennnorris4346]

While it's certainly interesting to dream how the earth was created three, four or more billions of years ago, I'm more interested in what has occurred only thousands of years ago. Some say a Genesis Flood happened about 2348 BC. How did this flood shape the North America Landscape? Did this flood help form the massive geological formations we see today? Did this flood actually shape the Grand Canyon over a relatively short period of time? Or was the Grand Canyon formed over billions of years? There have been sea fossils found at the Grand Canyon top rim that indicate that at one time sea water was present on that rim. Does this prove that a Genesis Flood occurred or did some other occurrence happen? This would be a great topic for a future PBS documentary.

[@mollystrack7902]

What about the Appalachians mountains?

[@eoachan9304]

The explanation given for granite formation is overly simplified. Yes you will some fractional melting of basalt's lighter minerals, but there is not enough basalt on earth to make all granite that way ;) In fact, metamorphic heat, pressure, and chemistry are known to be important granite creation processes, especially during major tectonic events such as mountain building :)

[@leela715]

Thanks for this channel. So..ultimately....we came from fire and are returning to it?

[@grahamhufton7715]

Thunder Bay in southern Canada. . . well I guess. not considered as such

[@rwg1957]

North America, as portrayed on this episode, ends here.

[@alicemiller3139]

What about the Appalachian Mountains?

[@greenthumb8266]

Please explain to me, like I’m ten years old, how a palm leaf last long enough to become a fossil ? So it just laid there, undisturbed, and without rotting, for what hundreds of years, thousands, until it became a full leaf fossil?

[@MossyMozart]

@greenthumb8266 - No, it had to happen quickly, like the leaf fell into mud or was covered in ash.. This Wikipedia article points out different way a fossil can form - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil#Fossilization_processes

[@lindaparker1823]

A dumb question:where did the water come from when it came out of the cracks of the earths crust after earth cooled?

[@MossyMozart]

@lindaparker1823 - Not a dumb question at all. A lot of water came from the many, many meteors that struck the Earth early on. I believe there is an episode about this on the PBS Eons channel here on KZbin.

[@PaulHo]

Jesus could never. I'm so glad this fascinating movie was scientific and not imperialist propaganda about frontiering and colonizing.

[@hgbugalou]

Another geology documentary about north America that doesn't mention anything about the Ozarks or New Madrid seismic zone. The NMSZ alone is one of the most unique geological oddities on the planet and it never gets a mention in these sadly. They had a perfect segu talking about the sand boils or the mid continent rift.

[@2ndand19]

Hardly any mention of the Appalachian mountains - the oldest mountains in North America.

[@TallulahB58]

The St. Francois Mountains in Missouri are much older- in some places they started forming over 1.4 billion years ago. When the Appalachians started forming 460 million years ago, the St. Francois range was twice as old as the Appalachians are today.

[@zyxw2000]

There were 2 more parts to this series.

[@2ndand19]

@@zyxw2000 I'd like to check them out. Do you have a link because I'm having a hard time finding them. I thought they'd be linked in the description.

[@zyxw2000]

@@2ndand19 They're not on YT yet. I saw them on the PBS series Nova.