The Secrets of the Ancient Sea - 360 degree animation

welcome to the Estonian Museum of Natural History's virtual reality experience it is the year 2017 and this is what the planet Earth looks like Estonia is situated in the northern hemisphere on the Eurasian tectonic plate tectonic plates are pieces of earth's rocky crust dozens of kilometers thick and floating on a mantle of semi solid magma although they might seem to be still tectonic plates are constantly in motion as much as a few centimetres per year the movement of tectonic plates becomes evident if we take a trip several hundred million years back in time 600 million years ago in the eddy a current period the land of Estonia is located near the South Pole at the bottom of a cool glacier-fed sea Eddi a Curren life on estonia's territory is soft bodied and relatively simple the open water is inhabited by distant relatives of the jellyfish while various worm-like creatures crawl in the mud the water is also home to bacteria green algae and other single-cell organisms let us advance 100 million years into the Cambrian period [Music] [Music] life is a lot more diverse in the cambrian favorable environmental conditions have resulted in an explosive emergence of new species in these new seas animals are beginning to compete for food and prey on others many species develop hard mineral shells or exoskeletons to protect themselves against predators hard-shelled trilobites have become the symbol of the Cambrian age despite the similar appearance they are not related to today's wood louse as another 100 million years pass Estonia moves ever closer to the equator we have arrived in the Ordovician period 450 million years in the past life becomes even more complex in the Ordovician various aquatic plants and moss animals cover the sea floor while trilobite sand sea snails scurry between them the seas are ruled by a distant relative of the modern squid the not annoyed this ruthless predator can grow to over ten meters in length a hop of 25 million years forward takes us to the Silurian period the tropical sea covering ancient Estonia is full of life in addition to early fish a new apex predator has appeared the sea scorpion this animal is not picky about its food devouring other sea creatures and its own kind on land which has until now been a truly lifeless desert the first must light plants and arthropods are beginning to appear in the Devonian period 375 million years ago the Baltic a proto continent crosses the equator taking ancient Estonia with it Devonian seas are ruled by large armored fish covered in protective bony plates on land tree like plants flourish some species reaching several dozens of meters in height making the transition from sea to dry land the first quadrupeds and fins appear with the sea level falling the period of ancient sea covering a study comes to an end Estonia is dry land for the next several hundred million years it is probable that this area had lush tropical vegetation and dinosaurs any fossil evidence of this has sadly been worn away by various geological processes our journey has almost brought us back to the modern era twenty thousand years ago Estonia is covered by a continental ice sheet up to a kilometer in thickness life has left this icy desert for more hospitable climates [Music] formed by melting glaciers after the last ice age the Baltic Sea is geologically the youngest sea in the world the Baltic is quite polluted due to large populations inhabiting its shores we should take good care of our sea so it will remain habitable for fish and seals and safe to swim for future generations [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Eesti Loodusmuuseum

Views: 37,280

Rating: 4.6613274 out of 5

Keywords: geology, vr, ordovician, silurian, devonian, mezozoic, cambrian, ediacaran, trilobite, trilobites, nautiloids, nautiloid, cephalopod, eurypterid, sea scorpio, fossils, Placodermi, plate tectonics

Id: cGQd_qNGYgA

Length: 7min 25sec (445 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 31 2018