In one verse, we are informed that mountains are not motionless as they
seem, but are in constant motion.
This motion of the mountains is caused by the movement of the Earth's
crust that they are located on. The Earth's crust 'floats' over the mantle layer,
which is denser. It was at the beginning of the 20th century when, for the first
time in history, a German scientist by the name of Alfred Wegener proposed
that the continents of the earth had been attached together when it first formed,
but then drifted in different directions, and thus separated as they moved away
from each other.
Geologists understood that that Wegener was right only in the 1980s, 50
years after his death. As Wegener pointed out in an article published in 1915,
the land masses on the earth were joined together about 500 million years ago.
As Wegener pointed out in a 1915 article, the land masses of the earth were
joined together some 500 million years ago, and this large mass, called Pangaea,
was located in the South Pole.
Approximately 180 million years ago, Pangaea divided into two parts,
which drifted in different directions. One of these giant continents was
Gondwana, which included Africa, Australia, Antarctica and India. The second
one was Laurasia, which included Europe, North America and Asia, except for
India. Over the next 150 million years following this separation, Gondwana and
Laurasia divided into smaller parts.
These continents that emerged after the split of Pangaea have been
constantly moving on the Earth's surface at several centimetres per year, in the
meantime changing the sea and land ratios of the Earth.
Discovered as a result of the geological research carried out at the
beginning of the 20th century, this movement of the Earth's crust is explained
by scientists as follows:The crust and the uppermost part of the mantle, with a thickness of about 100
kms., are divided into segments called plates. There are six major plates, and
several small ones. According to the theory called plate tectonics, these plates
move about on Earth, carrying continents and ocean floor with them. Continental
motion has been measured at from 1-5 cm per year. As the plates continue to move
about, this will produce a slow change in Earth's geography. Each year, for
instance, the Atlantic Ocean becomes slightly wider.
There is a very important point to be stated here: God has referred to the
motion of mountains as a drifting action in the verse. Today, modern scientists
also use the term "Continental Drift" for this motion.
Unquestionably, it is one of the miracles of the Qur'an that this scientific
fact, which has recently been discovered by science, was announced in the
Qur'an.