Discovering an ancient continent & other wild adventures in Madagascar with Professor Alan Collins

About this episode

Professor Alan Collins discusses his adventures and research in Madagascar, including the discovery of an ancient continent and the geological history of Gondwana.

What does it take to discover a continent? Apparently four months in the Madagascan wilderness with no phone, some crunchy crickets to snack on, and a whole lot of time bouncing around on terrible roads in a beat-up Peugeot while thinking some very big thoughts. Professor Alan Collins from Adelaide University joins Holly and Anthony for a conversation that spans the formation of Gondwana, the naming of a long-lost ancient continent, and the importance of being beautifully, productively bored. This is a genuine delight as Alan shares with us his vintage field photos, stories of sleeping in remote villages, learning Malagasy on the fly, and finding dinosaur bones by the side of the road. What a geology-kinda-life!! And the science? Alan's research reconstructed continental collisions 600–700 million years ago when the oceans were pink and the continents a rusty-red... and a mountain range as mighty as the Himalaya that has long since vanished. Alan walks us through the plate reconstructions and explains why understanding all of this helps us understand why our planet turned out the way it did. Oh, and we find out where the name Azania actually came from. Spoiler: it involves a very…

People in this episode

Hosts: Holly, Anthony

Guest: Professor Alan Collins

Topics covered

• geology
• continental formation
• Madagascar
• ancient continents
• field research
• plate tectonics
• dinosaur bones

Keywords

• continent discovery
• Madagascar wilderness
• geological research
• continental collisions
• dinosaur bones
• Malagasy language
• field photos

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Adelaide University

Products: Lonely Planet

Places: Madagascan, Gondwana, Azania, Himalaya

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