Rock and Mineral

VHS cover

*Rock and Mineral* is the seventh episode of the second season of Eyewitness. The topic of the episode is about geology, combining rocks, minerals and gemstones. The episode aired on 27th May 1996.

*Rock and Mineral* is based on a book that was first published in 1988 and has been republished several times, including 2000, 2006, 2008 and 2011. A separate book titled Crystal and Gem, which contains elements from the programme, was published in 1997.

## Episode

### Introductory sequence

Three cracks form in the floor of the Eyewitness Museum, with a large shelf of rock rising up. The shaking rock face dislodges a boulder, which falls and rolls out of shot, leaving the white background for the intro to begin.

### Episode outline

Click here for the full transcript for Rock and Mineral.

Written in stone is an expression meaning permanence, but in truth the story of stone is one of change. The ragged and crumbling surface of rock has provided us with the foundations of civilisation. Rocks, minerals, crystals and gems – we wear them, walk on them, work with them and even worship them. A cocktail of atoms form crystals, crystals in turn form minerals and minerals form rocks. The human story, as written in stone, has also been a tale of change and transformation. Fossils have recorded the history of life on Earth in stone.

Stones have long inspired awe, with Ayer's rock considered sacred. Other rocks have been put to work, with early humans using stone tools. Flint became the stone of choice around 300,000 years ago, as it could be carved into a huge variety of tools and weapons.

A great fire in the centre of the Earth was our first concept of the planet’s core. Today, we know the Earth’s core is solid and around 1,200km wide. The inner core is surrounded by the molten outer core which is in turn surrounded by the solid mantle. Surrounding this is the crust, the surface on which we live. Even with the most modern technology, we have only penetrated a few kilometres into the Earth’s crust. We’ve only scratched its surface, which is littered with stone mysteries such as Stone Age megaliths including at Carnac in France and Britain’s Stonehenge.

Earth has seen its fair share of wear and tear. Boiling magma can push against the crust from below to form ridges or explode out in volcanoes. In same places the crust either pulls apart to create trenches or presses together to form mountain ranges. Just as we didn’t know of these plate tectonics 50 years ago, the ancient Greeks believed the world was created from a naval stone or omphalos, made of white marble.

While internal forces like volcanoes can shape rock, it is also sculpted by outside eroding forces. Wind and blowing sand created Monument Valley in Arizona, while the tors of Dartmoor were created by minerals being melted from rock by rainwater. Water’s most impressive carving is the Grand Canyon. The Colorado River has cut through layers of sandstone and limestone to reveal rocks and fossils up to four billion years old. Temperature change can also erode rocks, with the freezing and thawing of water in a rock’s hairline cracks able to break it apart.

Humans are not the only species to put rocks to work. Lizards use sun-warmed rocks as basking sites, while birds swallow whole stones to grind up food in their gizzards. Parrots use kaolin as a digestive aid. We use kaolin in pottery, paper and to give paint a matte finish. Cave paintings used rock as both as canvas and the paint.

What is the difference between a rock and a mineral? Minerals are defined by a distinctive chemical formula while rocks are a combination of minerals. Minerals are constantly recycled, which recombines them into three distinctive types of rock. Cooling and hardening of minerals in magma create igneous rock. Minerals from igneous rock are carried by wind and water and, once deposited, are condensed into sedimentary rock. Sedimentary rock is baked under pressure into metamorphic rock, which eventually turns back into magma.

Limestone is a common sedimentary rock that can easily be eroded by water to create caves, while minerals deposited by dripping water cause stalagmites and stalactites. Other members of the sedimentary rock hall of fame include the travertine terraces of Turkey and both the Great Pyramids of Giza and Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, both built from limestone. Sedimentary rocks have been revered by the Christian and Jewish faiths.

When sedimentary rock is compressed and folded it becomes metamorphic rock. Marble dominates the metamorphic rock hall of fame, including the Greek Parthenon, the Taj Mahal and the many marble statues built by artists. Another important metamorphic rock is slate, used to create blackboards. In Christendom the rock of steadfast faith supports the city of God, with Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican said to be built over the grave of the Apostle Peter. The name Peter comes from the Greek word petros, meaning rock.

Rocks also provide unshifting ground for birds to nest, with some penguins building nests from pebbles. Rock wallabies and chamois live on rock cliffs, sea otters use stone tools to break open shellfish and bears hunt in rocky rivers and use caves for hibernation.

Igneous means ‘born of fire’, with the most common igneous rock being granite. All granites are a combination of three minerals, namely quartz, feldspar and mica. Lava that is pushed to the surface and cooled forms natural features like Sugarloaf Mountain in Brazil. The igneous rock hall of fame includes the Rosetta Stone made from basalt, and Sri Lanka’s Buddha statue and Mount Rushmore, carved from granite.

Some rocks come from outer space, with as many as 19,000 meteorites hit the Earth every year. One meteorite is venerated throughout the Islamic world – the black stone in the Kaaba in Mecca. It was said to be originally white, but has been blackened by the sins of the world.

Between black and white lies the brilliant colours of gemstones. Gemstones come from a single crystal. Crystals were once thought to be ice frozen so hard it would never melt, but an experiment by Robert Boyle in 1777 proved this was not the case. The large and well-formed crystals are the ones that stir the imagination and catch the eye. Many gemstones, such as lapis, turquoise, rubies and amethysts were said to have different useful properties. In the 4th century, the church declared precious stones to be fetters of the soul with anyone wearing them being excommunicated. They later reversed their position and amethysts became the traditional stone for bishop’s and cardinal’s rings. In legend, the holy grail is said to be carved by an emerald. Opals were said to be unlucky, particularly during the plague years in Venice. The hardest rock of all is the diamond, whose name might come from the Sanskrit word divya, meaning luminous deity. To bring out a gemstone’s lustre, it is cut and polished by a jeweller. In 1442 Agnès Sorel became the first commoner to break the French law stating that only royalty could wear diamonds. It helped that she was the king’s mistress.

The mineral that has caused more grief than any other is the great corrupter, gold. The ancient Egyptians worked with gold over 5,000 years ago. From King Midas whose touch turned anything to gold, to the Spanish conquistadors who looted Central and South America for its gold and the California gold rush of 1849, gold fever is as old as greed itself. The golden Buddha of Bangkok weighs five and a half tonnes, enough for 300,000 wedding rings. Because gold doesn’t tarnish, it has been associated with eternal life. Gold and diamonds symbolise the dual characters of stone – diamond for its permanence, gold for its malleable nature.

Rock and minerals are a common raw material, even precious stones. Eighty percent of all diamonds are used to serve utilitarian needs. Many stones, minerals and metals are used to create everyday items that surround us all the time. The beauty and value of stones is in the eye of the beholder. They can be sculpted or climbed, while crystals can heal the mind and body. In crossing the river of time, rocks, minerals and gems have been the stepping stones of civilisation. And one rock gives us all the ride of our lives, the jewelled Earth.

## Animal species filmed for the programme

### Studio footage

* Blue-tongued skink, *Tiliqua sp*.
* Rock dove, *Columba livia*
* Domestic horse, *Equus ferus caballus*

### Stock footage

* Egyptian vulture, *Neophron percnopterus*
* Agama lizard, Agamidae
* Green-winged macaw, *Ara chloropterus*
* Adelie penguin, *Pygoscelis adeliae*
* Black-flanked rock wallaby, *Petrogale lateralis*
* Northern chamois, *Rupicapra rupicapra*
* Sea otter, *Enhydra lutris*
* American black bear, *Ursus americanus*

## Stock footage sources

* Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives: Magic in the Rocks (1989) - Fossilising fish
* Wildlife on One: Barrels of Crude and Wallaroos (1992) - Rock wallaby

## Credits

* Director - Caius Julyan
* Producer - Richard Thomson
* Writer - Brian Meehl
* Music - Guy Dagul
* Graphics Director - Dean Stockton
* Graphics Design - Stan Peplinski
* Camera - Sean Bobbitt and Matthew Poynter
* Set Design - John Brace and Mark Dadswell
* Production Co-ordinator - Nicola Melluish
* Production Assistants - Tilly Colaco and Quin Jessop
* Researcher - Sue Hartridge Gray
* Archive Researchers - Zimena Percival, Philippa Graves and Anuschka de Rohan
* Graphics - Simon Kilroe, Kim Aldis and Kate Hood
* Editors
	+ Offline - Nick Scullard
	+ Online - Richard Wilding
* Dubbing Mixer - Steve Cookman
* Music Engineer - Roger King

## Making this programme

The eruption for the introductory sequence required one of the biggest models in the series. Because the rocks were plastic, the weight was reduced. A scaffold allowed the set to be split into chunks and the final touches were added to the main rock face that had been sculpted from Styrofoam. All that remained was to hide the blocks and put down a layer of salt to create a flat field of Eyewitness white. To achieve slow motion the high speed camera is set for two hundred and fifty frames per second, ten times normal speed. Everything had to be prepared for the take, as there was no way of doing a second take without adding a day to the schedule. Another rock wall was created by swabbing latex over a real stone surface, which was transformed back in the studio into a cave wall. The spinning axe was added in the computer, while the campfire was created by the studio electrician. The skeleton was given a paint job in preparation for meeting the episode’s hero, Smashy the boulder. The making of Eyewitness did not always go as planned – the simple shot of Smashy passing between two standing stones took several takes to actually complete.

## Home media releases

As well as being released on VHS, Rock and Mineral was released as a DVD in the USA and as one of the free DVDs provided with the UK's Daily Mirror newspaper.

Rock and Mineral America-release DVD coverEyewitness Rock and Mineral Daily Mirror DVD cover

**Writing staff**: Anne MacLeod • Ben Southwell • Ben Steiner • Brian Meehl • David Hanson • David Stafford • David Helton • George Bloom • Lynette Singer • Mike Tomlinson • Paul Thomas • Stan Cullimore
**Directors**: Gavin Maxwell • Justine Kershaw • David Hutt • Andrew Jackson • Justin Hardy • Ludo Graham • Jerry Foulkes • Derek Hall • Sanjida O'Connell • Caius Julyan • Bonni Cohen • Leanne Pooley • Edwina Vardey • Alexandra Beazley • Sam Hodgkin • Karen Walsh • Jack Weber • Richard Simkin • Alex Hearle • Brian Cummins • Ben Southwell
**Composers**: Guy Michelmore (season one) • Guy Dagul (seasons two and three)

**Season One**: Cat • Fish • Horse • Dog • Jungle • Bird • Amphibian • Insect • Shark • Elephant • Reptile • Dinosaur • Skeleton
**Season Two**: Desert • Tree • Ape • Mammal • Butterfly and Moth • Volcano • **Rock and Mineral** • Seashore • Pond and River • Weather • Arctic and Antarctic • Prehistoric Life • Shell
**Season Three**: Flight • Bear • Sight • Island • Survival • Mountain • Monster • Human Machine - Plant • Ocean • Planets • Life • Natural Disasters