How will the earth look in 10 million years? This special explains
Prediction time. North Africa will move northward and collide with southern Europe; Los Angeles will move northward, too, and become a suburb of San Francisco; New York City will become a small part of a vast volcanic range.
All this will happen in only 10 million years, according to the new ''National Geographic Special'': Born of Fire (PBS, Wednesday or other evenings, 8-9 p.m., check local listings for premiere and repeats).
Earthquakes, volcanoes, and all of this planet's periodic convulsions are the topics of a fascinating journey into the bowels of the earth, courtesy of WQED, Pittsburgh, and the National Geographic Society in this fourth and final special of the season.
''Born of Fire'' meanders across the globe, probing the ground, digging deep into the scientific secrets of the universe, wildcatting for facts about the world's future. This informative yet amazingly entertaining documentary features startling footage of the Eldfell volcano in Iceland, seawater inroads in Djibouti, the great Tokyo earthquake, the 1906 quake in San Francisco. There is especially intriguing information about the ancient Santorini (Greece) catastrophe which destroyed a whole civilization 35 centuries ago.
According to this disconcertingly splendid documentary, the earth always manages to emerge from its seemingly overwhelming shaking, roaring, and lava-spewing disasters.
''Born of Fire'' is awesome and thought-provoking. The film, produced by Linda K. Reavely, gives impressive testimony to man's tenacity and his ability to survive in the midst of geologic events over which he apparently has no control.