The new series HOW THE EARTH WAS MADE travels the globe to reveal the geological processes that have shaped our planet. Each episode will look at a single location and examine how the features that we see today have formed over millions of years—whether by colliding continents, volcanic eruption or the abrasive power of vast ice sheets. These processes, which intimately affect the way we live today, have been lost in the mists of time. Using the clues that were left behind, combined with expert evidence from geologists in the field, this series rolls back the millennia to see how the slow but immensely powerful forces of geology have shaped our world.

In the wake of Mount Saint Helens' unexpected eruption in Washington in 1980, researchers have concluded the highly-volatile volcano will erupt again, as explosive magma builds up, due to extreme pressure below ground level.