Time and terrain: a study in Canadian geology

Description: In this study in Canadian geology, the animation artist uses strange cone shapes to represent the volcanoes once covering much of Canada until they crumbled before age-long attacks of rain and wind. A pattern of rivers shows how silt was carried to the ocean until, after eons had passed, the land sank entirely under water except for a stubborn island, the Canadian Shield. Mood music increases the primordial atmosphere of the film, as layers of silt turn to layers of rock under the sea and violent pressures squeeze them suddenly upward to form jagged mountains, striped with twisted and tilted strata. The Ice Age follows. When it has passed, we see the birth of Canada’s lakes and rivers. Even today the terrain is subtly altering, as the Earth obeys Nature’s one fixed law - perpetual change. Photography by Lyle Enright. Animation by Colin Low. Music by Robert Fleming. Voice and Narration by Robert Christie.