WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

1
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"This is Silfra, in Iceland, where I got to
swim between two continental plates.

2
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"On one side of me is the North American plate.

3
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"On the other side is the Eurasian plate.

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"And here, this is where they're very slowly
tearing apart."

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Every word I said there was technically true.

6
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And I don't want this video to
take away from the magic:

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swimming in Silfra was incredible,
my guides were great, I'd recommend it.

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But here's the thing: this is
the Bridge Between Continents,

9
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it's about 100km southwest of there,
and it also claims

10
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to be the point where the two continental
plates are breaking apart.

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And the two cracks, this and Silfra,

12
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they aren't connected.

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Not to each other, and not to the countless
other cracks like them across Iceland.

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Now, the last time I did a video like this,
a few people got angry at me.

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Because yes, I'm about to debunk something,

16
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and if you have fond memories of diving or
snorkeling between continents,

17
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or holding up this bridge in a photo,

18
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this might make it a little less magical.

19
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Particularly if you we able to
dive deep enough at Silfra

20
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to get the photo where you touch
both sides at the same time.

21
00:01:06.390 --> 00:01:09.900
"You need to be a qualified diver to head
down into the depths.

22
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"I'm not, so I'm staying up there on the surface
with a snorkel.

23
00:01:13.180 --> 00:01:15.190
"And yes, my camera lens keeps fogging up,

24
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"I tried to do a piece to camera
while I was in the water

25
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"but it didn't go well."

26
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[unintelligible wet microphone noises]

27
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Here's what true:
Silfra is a crack in the earth,

28
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and it is between two tectonic plates.
Absolutely.

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If you're diving there, you are 100% diving
in between the continents.

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The bit that doesn't hold up is:

31
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that's not The Dividing Line.

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You've not got A Different Tectonic Plate
on each side of you,

33
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you're just in the bit where they split apart.

34
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A good way of thinking about it is:

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imagine that this bridge really was between
the continental plates.

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Imagine that really was the American plate,

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and this really was the Eurasian plate.

38
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What would this be, down below?

39
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I mean, other than a lot of volcanic sand
that's getting in my shoes.

40
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Is it neither? Both?
A bit in between?

41
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Whatever this is, it's true for
this whole area, for kilometres.

42
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You can see that on the map in the bridge.

43
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This is just one of many places where the
rocks happened to be a little bit weaker,

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so this is where they broke in two to let
this whole area... stretch.

45
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Plate tectonics is messy and three-dimensional.

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This is just where it looks dramatic.

47
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As you move out of this area, east or west,
over kilometres,

48
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the cracks become fewer and fewer,
and less and less common,

49
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and then they stop, and then you can definitely
say you're on one of the continental plates.

50
00:02:31.779 --> 00:02:35.439
But this bridge is symbolic.
Silfra is symbolic.

51
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It's where one of the cracks happened to breach
an underground river.

52
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But swimming in Silfra is still an
incredible experience, and here's why.

53
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"Silfra is filled with glacial meltwater,
an underground river surfacing there,

54
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"the water has been been filtered for decades
through rock.

55
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"And there's so much of it that there's a
constant current

56
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"pushing any impurities out
into the nearby lake.

57
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"Which includes me.

58
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"I'm swimming in a literal river of mineral
water, and the visibility is perfect.

59
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"In other parts of Iceland, water like that
is bottled and sold.

60
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"But here, we're inside
Þingvellir National Park,

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"which was the home of the Icelandic Parliament
for eight centuries

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"and is the most historic part of the entire
country.

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"So, no bottling plants there.

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"And because it's glacial meltwater,

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"it's also only just above freezing point,
about 2-3°C,

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"so I need to wear a dry suit to prevent hypothermia."

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Swimming in Silfra is, technically,
swimming between the continents.

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That is true.

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And if there's been one theme through my videos
over the years,

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it's been that the real world does not fit
into the neat little boxes that we'd like it to.

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Even though we keep designing systems that
have strict categories and sharp dividing lines,

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there are always exceptions.

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The continents don't split at a single line.

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The real world is far more messy
than we often think.