In April 2024 the BBC launched the 4th series of Race Across the World (RATW). The contestants are racing across East Asia from Sapporo to Lombok, branded as a journey around part of the "Ring of Fire," and traversing what is tectonically the Earth’s most unstable area. Geological hazards impact directly on the billions of people who live in the region, but also those living across the planet.
To supplement this (and nothing to do with the BBC!) Professor Rob Butler, Chair in Tectonics with the School of Geosciences, is posting videos on his YouTube channel, The Shear Zone, that explain aspects of the geology and tectonics of the region. This video series looks at famous eruptions and earthquakes from the historical and recent past, and includes breaking scientific discoveries that illuminate the earth processes behind these catastrophes.
Films go up on Rob's YouTube channel each week.
Banner image: Anak Krakatau erupts from the caldera of its much more famous and destructive parent. Photo credit Pierre Markeuse and SentinelHub.
Week 7: Volcanic winters, humanity, art, and ground zero
Week 6: Back to the Ring of Fire (Sumatra)
Week 5: Thailand riviera (Mae Sariang to Koh Phi Phi)
Week 4: Across Thailand
Week 3: Across Indochina (Hanoi to Phnom Penh)
Week 2: Over the Sea of Japan to Korea
Introduction and Week 1: Japan
Tectonic Information
The following videos give further information on plate tectonics, Earth processes and imaging the earth’s interior.
- Plate tectonics: what are plates?
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Tectonic plates consist of crust plus the colder, upper parts of the mantle. Individual plates can (and generally do) include both continent and ocean. This is a quick look at how plates are structured and defined with this video, part of The Shear Zone channel.
- Global seismology for tectonics: an introduction
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A quick introduction leading to seismic tomographic as the fundamental tool for imaging the deep earth, via the Preliminary Reference Earth Model, some basics on travel-time curves and seismic body waves. Watch the full video on The Shear Zone channel.
- Making mountains
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Why are there mountains? Join Rob in the French Alps to explore how tectonic processes - operating inside the Earth, interact with processes at the Earth's surface to create some of the most dramatic landscapes in the World. Watch the full video on The Shear Zone channel.
- Taiwan (Hualien) earthquake April 2024: tectonic setting
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In the morning of April 3rd 2024, Taiwan was hit by a M 7.4 earthquake and aftershocks. The country - and indeed the fault zone itself - have histories of earthquakes. Find out about the tectonic setting and a bit of a puzzle in this video, part of The Shear Zone channel.