Episode
MegaStructures: Tau Tona - City Of Gold
Overview
Megastructure takes viewers on an inside look at how the Port of Singapore is able to move a third of the world's trade through the use of shipping and high-tech mega-systems.
Details
- Series
- MegaStructures
- Season
- Season 2
- Episode
- Episode 5
- Air date
- 2005-05-21
- Runtime
- 60 min
Episode context
Tau Tona - City Of Gold is Episode 5 in Season 2 of MegaStructures. It aired on 2005-05-21. The runtime is 60 min.
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Episode 4: World's Busiest Port
Cameras are taken inside the Pentagon for a rare look at the usual going ons in the Pentagon, and a look at how the important meetings might be conducted. High ranking military officials and politicians also share their feelings about the Pentagon.
Episode 6: Las Vegas
Located near Johannesburg, South Africa, the Tau Tona is a gold mine. The Tau Tona is the main economic life blood of Johannesburg, supplying half the world’s gold needs. It is the deepest and largest working mine in the world. Its main shaft is 3.6 km deep and consists of 800 km of tunneling. This episode gives viewers a tour of the dynamic systems involved in maintaining a working environment deep in the earth. It also provides a glimpse of what life as a mine worker is like in Tau Tona. Risking heat exhaustion, and with 10 earthquakes a day, the miners work through narrow tunnels to extract gold from a 25 cm thick gold vein.
More episodes from this season
Episode 3: Inside The Pentagon
The worst of the worst were sent here—men like Al "Scarface" Capone, Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, "The Birdman" Robert Stroud. For 29 years, Alcatraz was a ferocious battle between America's toughest prison and the brilliant criminal minds locked inside. We'll explore the design, construction and legendary escapes from The Rock.
Episode 7: Black Gold (Oil Mine)
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Episode 2: Alcatraz
In 1906, an earthquake of magnitude 7.9 rocked San Francisco. An earthquake of similar or greater proportions is expected to occur in San Francisco again, and soon. The episode takes a look at the efforts that are being made to retrofit and strengthen America’s most recognized bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, before the next big earthquake happens. It also gives a brief history about the construction of the suspension bridge, and the people who were involved in its construction.
Episode 8: Ekati Diamond Mine (Diamond Diggers)
Located in Alberta, Canada is the world’s largest known single deposit of oil worth trillions of dollars. However, the oil is trapped in a complex mixture of sand, water and clay, and the cost of extracting the fuel from the soil will cost billions. The episode profiles the competition between the Syncrude and the Shell Oil companies to extract the black gold. It looks at the various mega machines and systems that are used to extract, transport and the process used to separate the oil from the sand.
Episode 1: Golden Gate Bridge
Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Episode 9: Sea Launch
Located near Lac De Gras, Canada’s Northwest Territories, lies Canada’s first diamond mine, the Ekati Diamond Mine. The episode examines 3 mega machines utilized in the extraction and transportation of diamonds deep in the frozen rock in the remote tundra: the D90 rotary blast drill, the DeMag 655 hydraulic shovel and the CAT 793C haul truck.
Episode 10: North Sea Wall
A historic and present look at Holland's efforts to hold on to their precious land from floods as a result of rising sea levels and climate changes. After a storm in 1916, the Dutch began a labor intensive construction of a Barrier Dam in 1923, stretching 30 km in length. It resulted in the reclamation of 165,000 ha of new land, and creation of a fresh water lake. However, in 1953, a combination of a hurricane and high spring tides caused the North Sea waters to force through the barrier and flood the Dutch coastline, resulting in the loss of over 1,800 lives and 47,000 livestock. The disaster resulted in Holland's creation of the 'Delta Project'. Costing billions of dollars, the project began in 1958. The project consisted of the construction of concrete dams, steel sea walls and retractable floodgates. Environmental considerations also led to the construction of the storm surge barrier in the Eastern Scheldt, one of the biggest in the world. It consists of 2 floating gates built on special docks. The vast gates are controlled by a computer system that allows the gates to be kept open but closes when a flood is imminent. Also presented are current emergency plans that include allocation of certain areas of land to be flooded during worse case flooding..
Episode 11: The World's Most Extreme Island (Impossible Islands)
Megastructure looks at how one of Dubai's greatest engineering marvel came to be. Examining the Palm-Jumeira Island from it's design to it's method of construction, the documentary also lists the problems faced in it's construction. Like the effects from the September 11 fears to corrosions and weather.
Episode 12: Indy Motor Speedway
How engineers created the USS Virginia and commissioned the first of a new class of nuclear submarine in the 1970s, hailed during its lifetime as the world's deadliest vessel
Episode 13: Port of Rotterdam (Super Port)
Spanning 559 acres and host to over 250,000 permanent seats, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the largest seated sporting arena in the world. The Speedway opened its gates in 1909 during the horse-and-buggy era. Now, it is one of the most technologically advanced racetracks on the globe.