Name: Making North America: Origins
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Nova

The epic 3 billion-year story of how our continent came to be. From the palm trees that once flourished in Alaska to titanic eruptions that nearly tore the Midwest in two, discover how forces of almost unimaginable power gave birth to North America.

Experience the colossal geologic forces that shaped our continent over 3 billion years.

Making North America: Origins

Meet the earthquake that drowned the Pacific Northwest.

Secrets of the Ghost Forest

What does this geological wonder reveal about North America’s deep history?

Time Travel in the Grand Canyon

the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Koch Foundation

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The epic 3 billion-year story of how our continent came to be. From the palm trees that once flourished in Alaska to titanic eruptions that nearly tore the Midwest in two, discover how forces of almost unimaginable power gave birth to North America.

Experience the colossal geologic forces that shaped our continent over billions of years.

Sant Director, National Museum of Natural History

Sedimentologist

Exploration Manager

Project Superintendent

UC Museum of Paleontology

Geophysicist

Experience the colossal geologic forces that shaped our continent over billions of years.

Planet Earth

How did life emerge on our primeval continent? Why was North America home to so many iconic dinosaurs like T. rex? And how did a huge sea filled with giant marine reptiles end up covering Kansas? We tell the surprising intertwined story of life and the landscape in North America.

How did massive volcanic eruptions, inland seas, and land bridges pave the way for life?

Making North America: Life

Dive down to rare stromatolites—key clues to the evolution of virtually all complex life.

These Boulders are Alive

How did life emerge on our primeval continent? Why was North America home to so many iconic dinosaurs like T. rex? And how did a huge sea filled with giant marine reptiles end up covering Kansas? We tell the surprising intertwined story of life and the landscape in North America.

Fossil Hunter

Duke University

Denver Museum of Nature & Science

Yale University

University of Miami

How did massive volcanic eruptions, inland seas, and land bridges pave the way for life?

When the Earth formed, most of the gold sunk to its core—but some remained trapped inside Earth’s mantle.

When the Earth formed, most of the gold sunk to its core—but some remained trapped inside

North American Gold

Explore the intimate connections between the landscape, the colonizing of the continent, and the emergence of our industrial world. Beginning with Native American ancestors who crafted hunting weapons from stone traded across hundreds of miles, the program shows how pre-Columbian civilizations developed an expert knowledge of the landscape and its resources.

How has the land shaped our lives, from the arrival of the first Americans to today?

Making North America: Human

Explore the intimate connections between the landscape, the colonizing of the continent, and the emergence of our industrial world. Beginning with Native American ancestors who crafted hunting weapons from stone traded across hundreds of miles, the program shows how pre-Columbian civilizations developed an expert knowledge of the landscape and its resources. With the arrival of Europeans, North America’s hidden riches became to key to prosperity, from the gold rush to today’s oil and gas boom. As a result, human activity has transformed the continent on a scale that rivals the geological forces that gave birth to it billions of years before. Yet, scientists warn of sleeping giants like the Cascadia fault, and the earthquake/tsunami one-two punch it could unleash on the Pacific Northwest. Even as we re-mold the continent to suit our needs, geologic processes inexorably continue, and they raise potential risks of catastrophe to our human civilization.

How has the land shaped our lives, from the arrival of the first Americans to today?

Mighty, elemental forces molded North America—fiery eruptions, titanic floods, the grinding of great ice sheets, and massive impacts from space all shaped our homeland. The epic three-part series unfolds in a forgotten world that existed long before our own, crossed by long-lost mountain ranges, deserts the size of Africa, and vast inland seas spanning the length of the continent. Explore beloved landmarks like the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls from the inside out as we witness the clash of nature’s creative and destructive forces. Hosted by renowned paleontologist Kirk Johnson, this spectacular road trip through a tumultuous deep past explores three fundamental questions: How was the continent built? How did life evolve here? And how has the continent shaped us? “Making North America” reveals the incredible story of a majestic continent.

Host Kirk Johnson explores how the continent was shaped—and how it shaped us.

Host Kirk Johnson explores how the continent was shaped—and how it shaped us.

Making North America

US, US Territories, Canada

US & Territories

United States

Northern Mariana Islands

Puerto Rico

American Samoa

Guam

U.S. Virgin Islands

U.S. Minor Outlying Islands

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A statue of Zheng He at the Sam Poo Kong Temple in Java, Indonesia. Image Credit: Budianto Santosa, Shutterstock

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Making North America: Origins

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Making North America: Life

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Formation of the Ancestral Rockies

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Transcript

Credits

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Making North America: Life

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Formation of the Ancestral Rockies

Uncovering Layers of the Grand Canyon

Time Travel in the Grand Canyon