Evacuate Earth ~ Hell on Earth

Today on Far Future Horizon we present another horrific scenario a primordial black hole impacts the Earth unleashing “Hell on Earth”. 

Atlantis: The End of a World and the Birth of a Legend

Today on Far Future Horizons we present a 2011 BBC docudrama titled Atlantis: End of a World, Birth of a Legend which depicts a re-enactment of the events surrounding the volcanic eruption which destroyed the island of Thera, an incident believed to have inspired the legend of Atlantis. The hour-long programme is based on the work of leading scientists, archaeologists and historians, and featured Stephanie Leonidas and Reece Ritchie as members of the Bronze age civilisation. The film was narrated by Tom Conti, and made its debut on BBC One on Sunday 8 May 2011.

Featuring spectacular visual effects, this factually-based drama tells the gripping story of the greatest natural disaster to shake the ancient world, a disaster that triggered the downfall of a civilisation and spawned a legend.

Atlantis: The Evidence

In this Timewatch special, historian Bettany Hughes unravels one of the most intriguing mysteries of all time - did Atlantis really exist?

Dr. Hughes presents a series of geological, archaeological and historical clues to show that the legend of Atlantis was inspired by a real historical event – the greatest natural disaster of the ancient world – the eruption of Thera on the Aegean island of Santorini. In this documentary Dr. Hughes traces the origins of the Atlantis myth and presents evidence that the Thera eruption inspired Plato’s account of this mystical land.

Volcanoes ~ The Furnaces of Life

Today on Far Future Horizons we present another exciting episode from the acclaimed documentary series How the Universe Works ~  The Furnaces of Life.

This instalment will  explore how volcanoes shaped our planet’s history and may have had a major role in the origin of life on our planet and perhaps elsewhere in the universe.

Supervolcanoes

Today on Far Future Horizons we will focus our attention on perhaps the least understood and the most destructive natural phenomena on Earth – Supervolcanoes.

Map of all Known Supervolcanoes

Only a handful exist in the world but, when one erupts it will be unlike any volcano we have ever witnessed. The explosion will be heard around the world. The sky will darken, black rain will fall, and the Earth will be plunged into the equivalent of a nuclear winter.

The Day the Earth Nearly Died

Today we live in a world teeming with life but, some two hundred and fifty million years ago that nearly change and life on earth was very nearly wiped out.

Krakatoa

Today on Far Future Horizons we explore the forces which shaped our planet with the highly acclaimed History Channel documentary series “How the Earth Was Made”. In the third episode of this series examine the unique geological conditions that make Krakatoa and it's successor, Anak Krakatau, extraordinarily explosive and dangerous.

Yellowstone Eruption

Today on Far Future Horizons we explore a very explosive question: What would happen if the"mega-volcano" underneath Yellowstone National Park erupted?

The world's largest, most active volcano system exists in the western United States. Some six hundred and fifty thousand years ago, the Yellowstone Volcano erupted. Lava and pyroclastic flows covered three thousand square miles with an ash layer some three feet thick.

The Vesuvius Time Bomb

Today on Far Future Horizons we present a documentary on  perhaps the most famous volcano in history – Vesuvius.

Our video feature for today is another exciting documentary from the National Geographic Channel’s series Naked Science which will lay bare the potential danger posed by the ticking geological time bomb of Vesuvius to the inhabitants of the Southern Italian city of Naples.

Stone Age Apocalypse

Human evolution is believed to have begun some six million years ago. Yet, despite the passage of so much time, the diversity of the DNA genetic code of all humans is minute.

Some Seventy-five thousand years ago, something apocalyptic occurred that left relative few humans alive to carry on the species.

The cause of this bottleneck is now believed to have been a massive volcanic eruption on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

A super-eruption from the site of Lake Toba in Sumatra blasted out more than two hundred cubic miles of ash over an area of over a million square miles.

Today on Far Future Horizons we present two documentary features concerning this prehistoric mega disaster: Naked Science - Stone Age Apocalypse and PBS NOVA’s Mystery of the Megavolcano.

Ancient Apocalypse ~ The Minoans

 

Today on Far Future Horizons we explore the possibility that the disappearance of the Minoan civilization may be very well linked to the major cataclysmic disaster that destroyed the island of Thera (Santorini) which in turn inspired Plato’s tale of the sad fate of the island civilization of Atlantis.

Three and a half thousand years ago, the tiny Aegean island of Thera was devastated by one of the worst natural disasters since the Ice Age – a huge volcanic eruption.

This cataclysm happened one hundred kilometers from the island of Crete, the home of the thriving Minoan civilization. Fifty years after the eruption, that civilization was in ruins. Did the volcano deliver a death blow to the Minoans? It’s a whodunnit that has haunted historians and scientists for decades.

Catastrophe! Part 2: “How the World Changed”

Today on Far Future Horizons we present the second installment of a two-part documentary titled Catastrophe! — “How the World Changed” from the acclaimed PBS series Secrets of the Dead.

The Justinian Plague

Catastrophe! — Part 1: The Day the Sun Went Out

Did a major cataclysmic event plunge humankind into the period known as the early Dark Ages? Scientists now believe the early Dark Ages may have been triggered by a natural event that occurred around 535 A.D.

The Last Days of Pompeii

On August 24th, 79 AD one of the most devastating natural disasters in recorded history destroyed the three neighbouring Roman resort cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae in the wake of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. This volcano still threatens the Italian city of Naples today.



What follows is an ancient voice that reaches out from the past to tell us of the disaster. This voice belongs to Pliny the Younger whose letters describe his experience during the eruption while he was staying in the home of his Uncle, Pliny the Elder. The elder Pliny was an official in the Roman Court, in charge of the fleet in the area of the Bay of Naples and a naturalist. Pliny the Younger's letters were discovered in the 16th century.

"My uncle was stationed at Misenum, in active command of the fleet. On 24 August, in the early afternoon, my mother drew his attention to a cloud of unusual size and appearance. He had been out in the sun, had taken a cold bath, and lunched while lying down, and was then working at his books. He called for his shoes and climbed up to a place which would give him the best view of the phenomenon. It was not clear at that distance from which mountain the cloud was rising (it was afterwards known to be Vesuvius); its general appearance can best be expressed as being like an umbrella pine, for it rose to a great height on a sort of trunk and then split off into branches, I imagine because it was thrust upwards by the first blast and then left unsupported as the pressure subsided, or else it was borne down by its own weight so that it spread out and gradually dispersed. In places it looked white, elsewhere blotched and dirty, according to the amount of soil and ashes it carried with it.

My uncle's scholarly acumen saw at once that it was important enough for a closer inspection, and he ordered a boat to be made ready, telling me I could come with him if I wished. I replied that I preferred to go on with my studies, and as it happened he had himself given me some writing to do.

As he was leaving the house he was handed a message from Rectina, wife of Tascus whose house was at the foot of the mountain, so that escape was impossible except by boat. She was terrified by the danger threatening her and implored him to rescue her from her fate. He changed his plans, and what he had begun in a spirit of inquiry he completed as a hero. He gave orders for the warships to be launched and went on board himself with the intention of bringing help to many more people besides Rectina, for this lovely stretch of coast was thickly populated.

He hurried to the place which everyone else was hastily leaving, steering his course straight for the danger zone. He was entirely fearless, describing each new movement and phase of the portent to be noted down exactly as he observed them. Ashes were already falling, hotter and thicker as the ships drew near, followed by bits of pumice and blackened stones, charred and cracked by the flames: then suddenly they were in shallow water, and the shore was blocked by the debris from the mountain.

For a moment my uncle wondered whether to turn back, but when the helmsman advised this he refused, telling him that Fortune stood by the courageous and they must make for Pomponianus at Stabiae. He was cut off there by the breadth of the bay (for the shore gradually curves round a basin filled by the sea) so that he was not as yet in danger, though it was clear that this would come nearer as it spread. Pomponianus had therefore already put his belongings on board ship, intending to escape if the contrary wind fell. This wind was of course full in my uncle's favour, and he was able to bring his ship in. He embraced his terrified friend, cheered and encouraged him, and thinking he could calm his fears by showing his own composure, gave orders that he was to be carried to the bathroom. After his bath he lay down and dined; he was quite cheerful, or at any rate he pretended he was, which was no less courageous.


Meanwhile on Mount Vesuvius broad sheets of fire and leaping flames blazed at several points, their bright glare emphasized by the darkness of night. My uncle tried to allay the fears of his companions by repeatedly declaring that these were nothing but bonfires left by the peasants in their terror, or else empty houses on fire in the districts they had abandoned. Then he went to rest and certainly slept, for as he was a stout man his breathing was rather loud and heavy and could be heard by people coming and going outside his door. By this time the courtyard giving access to his room was full of ashes mixed with pumice stones, so that its level had risen, and if he had stayed in the room any longer he would never have got out. He was wakened, came out and joined Pomponianus and the rest of the household who had sat up all night.

Victims of Pompeii :  Pompeiians Flash-Heated to Death—"No Time to Suffocate"

They debated whether to stay indoors or take their chance in the open, for the buildings were now shaking with violent shocks, and seemed to be swaying to and fro as if they were torn from their foundations. Outside, on the other hand, there was the danger of failing pumice stones, even though these were light and porous; however, after comparing the risks they chose the latter. In my uncle's case one reason outweighed the other, but for the others it was a choice of fears. As a protection against falling objects they put pillows on their heads tied down with cloths.

Elsewhere there was daylight by this time, but they were still in darkness, blacker and denser than any ordinary night, which they relieved by lighting torches and various kinds of lamp. My uncle decided to go down to the shore and investigate on the spot the possibility of any escape by sea, but he found the waves still wild and dangerous. A sheet was spread on the ground for him to lie down, and he repeatedly asked for cold water to drink.

Then the flames and smell of sulphur which gave warning of the approaching fire drove the others to take flight and roused him to stand up. He stood leaning on two slaves and then suddenly collapsed, I imagine because the dense, fumes choked his breathing by blocking his windpipe which was constitutionally weak and narrow and often inflamed. When daylight returned on the 26th - two days after the last day he had been seen - his body was found intact and uninjured, still fully clothed and looking more like sleep than death.

Victims of Pompeii  : Pompeiians Flash-Heated to Death—"No Time to Suffocate"

Shrieks of the People

In a second letter to Tacitus, Pliny describes what happened to him and to his mother during the second day of the disaster:


Ashes were already falling, not as yet very thickly. I looked round: a dense black cloud was coming up behind us, spreading over the earth like a flood. 'Let us leave the road while we can still see, 'I said, 'or we shall be knocked down and trampled underfoot in the dark by the crowd behind. 'We had scarcely sat down to rest when darkness fell, not the dark of a moonless or cloudy night, but as if the lamp had been put out in a closed room.

Pompeii: Map Showing the Extent of the Ash fall of the Vesuvius Eruption

You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men; some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives, trying to recognize them by their voices. People bewailed their own fate or that of their relatives, and there were some who prayed for death in their terror of dying. Many besought the aid of the gods, but still more imagined there were no gods left, and that the universe was plunged into eternal darkness for evermore.

There were people, too, who added to the real perils by inventing fictitious dangers: some reported that part of Misenum had collapsed or another part was on fire, and though their tales were false they found others to believe them. A gleam of light returned, but we took this to be a warning of the approaching flames rather than daylight. However, the flames remained some distance off; then darkness came on once more and ashes began to fall again, this time in heavy showers. We rose from time to time and shook them off, otherwise we should have been buried and crushed beneath their weight. I could boast that not a groan or cry of fear escaped me in these perils, but I admit that I derived some poor consolation in my mortal lot from the belief that the whole world was dying with me and I with it."

- Pliny the Younger

Today  we present two video features that recount the last days of the Roman city of Pompeii after the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius. “Pompeii: The Last Day” is a dramatized documentary that tells the tragic eyewitness story of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Lavish special effects based on archaeological evidence reconstruct each stage of Vesuvius’s cataclysmic eruption and its impact on soldiers, slaves, families, and lovers as they struggle with the unfolding tragedy.

The Last Day of Pompeii is a large canvas painting by Russian artist Karl Briullovin 1830-33

We also present the acclaimed 1959 motion picture "The Last Days of Pompeii" based the 1834 novel of the same name by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. 

So join us today as we relive one of the greatest natural disasters in recorded history.

Both Pompeii ~ The Last Day and The Last Days of Pompeii (1959) are available on DVD from Amazon Books

Prehistoric Megastorms - Mega Tsunami

Today on Far Future Horizons we present Prehistoric Megastorms - Mega Tsunami.

In 6,000 BC, 8,000 years before the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, a paleo tsunami whose waves reach taller than the Statue of Liberty allegedly was generated by a landslide from Mount Etna and ravaged the coasts of the Mediterranean, devastating ancient villages and killing untold numbers.