Top of the Rocks S01E05 · Limestone

Overview

This rock is recognizable by its white color; the great builders have chosen it for their most edifying monuments. But even more surprising, it is born from the living and has maintained a filial relationship to it… This rock, which covers more than half of the Earth’s surface, is limestone! To unlock its secret, we will study the living organisms that make it up off the cliffs of Etretat, we will probe the ecosystem of the Dover region in England to get a grasp of its influence on the plant world. On Vancouver Island in Canada, we will explore galleries and caves where the mineral hosts a flourishing life. We will lose ourselves in the Catacombs of Paris. We will discover its harsh extraction in the quarries of Al-Minya in Egypt. In Namibia, we will walk in the footsteps of our distant limestone-dependent ancestors. Finally, off the coast of Florida we will be interested in a very strange animal made of flesh and rock.

Torrents

Subtitles

Episodes

1. 1 1. Clay2023-02-27 · 44mClay is a particularly surprising rock. Soft and fragile when dry, it is malleable when in contact with water and can freeze permanently under the action of fire. Thanks to its pec
2. 2 2. Granite2023-02-28 · 44mAlmost unbreakable, this rock constitutes much of the crust of our continents and the root of our mountains. This rock, considered as the base of the terrestrial world, is granite.
3. 3 3. Sandstone2023-03-01 · 44mThere’s a rock that crystallizes the beauty of the world more than any other. It’s sandstone. This rock, rich of the grains of sands that compose it, both porous and resistant, dev
4. 4 4. Basalt2023-03-02 · 43mThere’s a peculiarly young rock at the scale of geological times. It comes from the bowels of the Earth and is born from the volcanoes’ fury. This rock is at the root of the most e
5. 5 5. Limestone2023-03-03 · 43mThis rock is recognizable by its white color; the great builders have chosen it for their most edifying monuments. But even more surprising, it is born from the living and has main