Drain the Ocean (on Nat’l Geographic Channel)
Most of my readers know that I have a passion for submarine geomorphology (e.g., the Sea-Floor Sunday series). I got excited the other day when I came across some news while surfing around some geoblogs* about a TV program on the National Geographic Channel called Drain the Ocean. As you might imagine from that title, the show is focused on our planet’s submarine landscapes, or seascapes.
What does the sea floor look like when the water is ‘drained away’? Some TV programs that deal with geology or oceanography have touched on the nature of the sea floor, but it is almost always within the context of biology. Don’t get me wrong … I love learning about marine biology, especially of the deep sea, but I’m usually left wanting more about the physical environment. Looks like this show might be able to deliver.
Drain the Ocean is on this coming Sunday (August 9th, 2009) on the National Geographic Channel. Unfortunately, I do not have that channel … but a friend of mine is DVRing it or maybe it’ll be on Netflix soon.
In the meantime, check out their website — they have a neat little interactive map previewing some of the sites they will discuss on the program.
credit: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/ (cllick on image to go to site)
The image above is from their interactive map showing how the Monterey submarine canyon is similar in scale to the Grand Canyon. Cool.
If you check out the show, blog about it, and then put a link to your post in this thread.
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* via the blog Sedimentary Soliloquy
Clastic Detritus 
I’ll have to set the DVR and see what it’s all about! Thanks for the info!
I, too, am fascinated by the dynamic features observed on the seafloor. I’m currently working on deepwater Gulf of Mexico projects and working to characterize the structural/stratigraphic supra-salt features. The morphology highlighted by the 3D seismic data is pretty amazing and with the clarity of multibeam bathymetry it’s even moreso. In the GoM a lot of features result from and continue to drive the complex salt tectonics. I’ve been looking at a lot of thin-skinned deformation – both extensional and compressional features. It’s a giant 4-dimensional jigsaw puzzle.
Geology is awesome, isn’t it?!
Geogirldi … yeah, the GoM is a fasinating region for looking at interactions of and feedbacks between sedimentation and salt-driven deformation. Have fun!
I admit I had trouble concentrating on the show. Best parts: The water of the Colorado River, the underwater fumaroles, the giant octopus attracted by light patterns… Yes, this was a lot more about biology than expected. But pulling away and seeing the mid-Atlantic Ocean Ridge was cool, as was seeing the “seafloor” exposed in Iceland. I would like to watch the show again when I am not so easily distracted. One issue: It was quite “Amero-centric” – even the mud volcanoes were in California, when there’s a massive mud volcano in Indonesia.
Great narrator! (Avery Brooks)
Program repeats Wednesday August 12, 12:00 a.m. Eastern/Pacific time; Sunday, August 16, 2:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific time; Tuesday, August 18, 5:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific time.
Here’s a link to the show’s Web site: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/drain-the-ocean-3639/Overview#tab-Overview
Colo_kea … thanks for the review. My buddy DVR’d it, so I’ll see it eventually.