Prehistoric Disasters

The Earth was once entombed in sheets of ice miles deep, extinguishing nearly all life. Travel to the ends of the earth with intrepid scientists investigating the Snowball Earth event. Could this controversial theory be the key to the evolution of mankind on Earth? Deep in the Australian outback a smooth grey stone stands out in the parched red earth. The stone is over 630 million years old and proves that Australia used to be buried under ice. It's a tantalising sign of the global freeze that once enveloped every inch of this planet. In Alaska, a group of American scientists highlight the power, possibilities and history of this icy world. We climb the overhangs of the vast Matanuska glacier, cave deep into the ice crevasses of White Out and land on the smouldering summit of the Mt. Augustine volcano. However, it is back in South Australia that this ancient climate disaster reveals its most extraordinary twist. Stamped in the rugged rocks there is a vital clue - one of the world's first ever multi-cellular organisms. Only slightly older than the global freeze itself, is this fossil the crucial evidence that Snowball Earth created complex life on Earth?

30 million years after the birth of the Earth, a cataclysmic collision with a Mars-sized planet almost destroyed the planet completely. Instead, this chance collision formed the moon, triggering an extraordinary sequence of events that formed this unique planet teaming with life. As the vaporized Earth reels from the impact, the moon forms out of the dust and rock debris that gravitate around it. This world is completely inhospitable to life and yet remarkably, within a few billion years, life takes a hold. And all this is possible because of the moon. Mixing Earth?s organic rich oceans with giant tides, slowing Earth?s rotation and stabilising Earth?s axis, the moon plays a vital role in progression of life.

250 Million years ago Earth had one giant continent known as Pangea - a lush oasis swarming with life forms distinct from those that exist today. Then in the blink of a geological eye everything changed. Life itself was almost completely wiped out. But what was responsible for the biggest extinction event in the history of the planet? Now scientists believe they have solved the biggest murder mystery of all time. The culprit responsible for obliterating 95% of life on Earth was a massive volcanic eruption, one which covered millions of cubic miles with lava and set off a chain of events which would have catastrophic consequences for all forms of life at the time!

Dinosaurs arose as rulers of the Earth 250 million years ago, commanding every niche and dominating all other species. But 65 million years ago the Earth is rocked by a great catastrophe that annihilates the mighty dinosaurs. We discover the trail of tantalizing clues that lead to the discovery of what killed them and ultimately lead to the evolution of humans. The discovery of traces of an extra-terrestrial element in the coastal rocks of Spain provides the first sign that what ever killed the dinosaurs may have come from outer space. Traveling across America's West and in to the Canadian badlands we gather further clues to confirm this premise. But if a cosmic impact was responsible, where did it hit the Earth? We tell the amazing story of the discovery of the crater on the coast of Mexico - the "smoking gun" that proved an asteroid the size of Mount Everest slammed in to the Earth 65 million years ago. By pure cosmic chance, the mighty dinosaurs are wiped out. Now the small mammals sheltering in the ground have a chance to emerge on the stage, and evolve into the creatures that control the Earth.