Journeying to the Earth's Past in the Isotope Time Machine - 50 minutes
Watson Lecture by John Eiler
Earth Science is a form of history with the basic goals of reconstructing and understanding the unique events and life forms of our planet's past, many of which are beyond our experience of the modern world. This talk explores how the study of isotopes in rocks and fossils lets us peer into the past and quantitatively reconstruct geological and biological evolution. Isotope geoscience began with the pioneers of the Manhattan project; recent innovations allow us to reconstruct ice ages hundreds of millions of years in the past and measure the body temperatures of dinosaurs [Watch video on iTunes U - scroll to #22]

Roof of the World (BBC) (broadcast 1998) - 50 minutes
Documentary by BBC about mountain building, including an interview with Jean-Philippe Avouac who explains how the Himalayan mountains continue to rise because of earthquakes [Watch video on Youtube]

Good Vibrations Inside the Earth (4/13/2011) - 50 minutes
Watson Lecture by Jennifer Jackson
Professor Jackson shows how modern devices such as diamond-anvil cells and high-power infrared lasers can be used on minerals to recreate the crushing pressures and flaming temperatures suspected to exist deep within Earth, while extremely brilliant synchrotron x-radiation probes the minerals' properties [Watch video on iTunes U - scroll to #15]

Rising Mountains and Sinking Oceans: Earthquakes That Shape the Earth (10/27/2010) - 50 mins
Watson Lecture by Jean-Philippe Avouac
Why are the Himalaya mountains so high? Why are ocean trenches off the shores of South America and Sumatra so deep? Combining modern space and traditional geological techniques and field observations, Jean-Philippe Avouac with his colleagues and students have collected an exceptional set of observations of the most active plate boundaries, the Himalya, Sumatra, and South America. These observations bring new light on the physics of earthquakes and on how they relate to rising mountains and sinking oceans. [Watch video on iTunes U - scroll to #10]

The Ancient California River and how it Carved the Grand Canyon in the Age of T. Rex (4/7/2010) - 50 mins
Watson Lecture by Brain Wernicke
Anyone who stands at the rim of grand canyon is confronted with one of the most humbling spectacles in the solar system, a high, featureless plateau interrupted by a mile-deep chasm. Its origin has been controversial ever since John Wesley Powell’s historic navigation of the colorado river in 1869. A long-held consensus is that the canyon is six million years old and was carved by the river. This lecture will examine data collected over the last three years suggesting instead that the canyon was incised between 70 and 80 million years ago, by a river flowing in the opposite direction to the modern colorado river.
[Watch video on iTunes U - scroll to #7]

Modern Methods of Observing Earthquakes: What We Have Learned About Haiti and Chile using Seismology and Space Observations (3/31/2010) - 90 minutes
Mark Simons and Anthony Sladen were among the speakers at a public panel discussion (Watch video of event)

Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics (2008) - 2 minutes
With the advent of plate tectonics, it's become apparent that episodes of extreme geologic upheaval -- like earthquakes -- are much more than simply random events. Comments by several scientists, including Joann Stock, Caltech professor of geology and geophysics
Watch iTunes U video podcast by Intelecom

The Pacific-North American Plate Boundary, Mexican Style(1/23/2008) - 47 minutes
by Joann Stock, Caltech professor of geology and geophysics
Watson Lecture on how studies of volcanic and sedimentary rocks in Mexico and southernmost California help scientists understand the slip history of the San Andreas fault system farther north in California. She also explains how dramatic changes in the geology and geography of land and ocean have occurred in the plate-boundary region.
[56k modem] [cable/DSL] [broadband] (for help viewing video)

Continental Deformation: Making the Basin and Range (2007) - 8 minutes
Story covering a team of geologists, including Brian Wernicke, Caltech's Chandler Family Professor of Geology, who are combining fieldwork in the American Southwest with animated computer modeling to understand how the Basin and Range's gological drama has played out over the last 36 million years. To view, go to American Natural History Museum, Science Bulletins, under "All Stories" click on Earth Features, and then on "Continental Deformation."

Natural Disasters: What We Know vs. What We Do (10/18/2006) - 59 minutes
by Kerry Sieh, Caltech's Sharp Professor of Geology
Watson Lecture on how catastrophic natural events in Western Sumatra, Iran, and New Orleans provide important illustrations of the disparity between what Earth scientists know about natural hazards and what has been done to mitigate those hazards' effects.
[56k modem] [cable/DSL] [broadband] (for help viewing video)

All the Faults in the World: The Cutting Edge of Tectonics (5/7/2003) - 47 minutes
by Brian Wernicke, Caltech's Chandler Family Professor of Geology
Watson Lecture on how Caltech uses diverse new technologies to observe the earth's movements, both now and in the past, and to determine the physical laws that govern these motions.
[56k modem] [cable/DSL] [broadband] 47 minutes (for help viewing video)