A three part natural history of the Wild West
Narrated by Barry Paine
2: The Land of Sleeping Mountains Death Valley, the Great Salt Lake, volcanoes, silver mines, ghost towns, and nuclear test ranges, are all part of the strange land called the Great Basin which lies between the Rocky Mountains and the spectacular Sierra Nevada in California.
Massive forces between the plates of the earth's crust are pulling apart this curiously beautiful landscape. Mountains are rising, valleys falling. Catastrophic floods and ice have left fishes in the desert, and animals marooned on mountain-tops.
The Indians believe that one day the sleeping mountains will awake and drive the white men from their land. Geologists say that major earthquakes are due, and a catastrophic eruption may be about to occur in California's backyard - the Owens Valley.
Film cameramen
MIES HERD, WOLFGANG BAYER Graphics ANDY COWARD
Film editor ANDREW JOHNSTON Written and produced by MICHAEL ANDREWS BBC Bristol
Book, same title available from booksellers £17.50. published 22 September