The Quran and Mountains: Difference between revisions

[[File:Ch1-1-b-img2.jpg|alt=|border|thumb|425x425px|''Anatomy of the Earth'' by Cailleux (p. 220)|center]]

The schematic diagram taken from page 220 of ''Anatomy of the Earth'' by the French geologist Cailleux is cited by various sources advocating the reality of the proposed miracle.<ref name="A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam">[http://www.islam-guide.com/frm-ch1-1-b.htm A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam/ B) The Quran on Mountains] - Islam-Guide.com, accessed October 1, 2011</ref> The basic underground protrusion of the crust beneath the mountainous region of the Alps, according to miracle advocates, appears as a sort of peg embedded in the lower layer of the Earth. This, the advocates suggest, coheres with {{Quran-range|78|6|7}} which reads, “Have We not made the earth as a wide expanse, And the mountains as pegs?”[[File:Anatomy_of_the_Earth-_Cailleux-_p_220.jpg|alt=|thumb|425x425px|Description of figure found on p. 220]]The geological phenomenon observed is known as isostasy. This term describes the dynamic by which thickening of the crust results in mountains rising above ground level, compensated for by an increase in the depth of the crust into the lower part of the lithosphere (upper mantle) in the same area, maintaining [[w:Isostasy|isostatic equilibrium]].

Secondly, they note that the caption associated with the diagram found in Cailleux's book explicitly points out that the visual representation has had its 'vertical scale greatly exaggerated'.<ref>Click [[:File:Anatomy of the Earth- Cailleux- pp 220-221.jpg|here]] for a more complete view of the page scan.</ref> Other visual representations with less exaggerated and more accurate vertical scales, some of which are cited by the advocates themselves, do not depict mountains as in any way resembling pegs.<ref name="A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam"></ref>[[File:Ch1-1-b-img1.jpg|alt=|thumb|425x425px|A depiction of isostasy with a more accurate (though still exaggerated) vertical scale|center]]

[[File:Ural_gravity_model.png|alt=|thumb|425x425px|Gravity model of a cross section from part of the Ural mountain range (note the exaggerated vertical dimension) by Ognev et. al. "Satellite gravity gradient data was applied to determine the Moho depth for the area [i.e. the lower boundary of the crust] ... The Moho discontinuity obtained from the gravity inversion was consequently modified and complemented in order to define a complete 3D crustal model by adding information on the sedimentary cover, upper crust, lower crust, and lithospheric mantle layers in the process of forward gravity modelling, where both seismic and gravity constraints were respected."<ref>Ognev, I., Ebbing, J., and Haas, P.: [https://se.copernicus.org/articles/13/431/2022/ Crustal structure of the Volgo–Uralian subcraton revealed by inverse and forward gravity modelling], Solid Earth, 13, 431–448, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-431-2022, 2022. (Open access)</ref>|center]]

The below crustal cross section of the Alps shows a type of mountain range root formation resulting from subduction during continental crust collision. The present height of the mountains are shown in the solid line slightly above sea level. It is important to note that this is a cross section and continues all along the length of the plate boundary. Hence even with the most generous imagination, this process does not resemble a peg or stake.

[[File:Alps_crustal_cross_section.png|alt=|thumb|425x425px|Cross section illustrating part of the Alps by Moores et al.<ref>Moores, Eldridge & Yıkılmaz, M. & Kellogg, Louise. (2013). [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284224939_Tectonics_50_Years_after_the_Revolution Tectonics: 50 Years after the Revolution] 10.1130/2013.2500(10). pp. 347-8</ref>|center]]

It could be added that far more significant downwards protrusions into the molten athenosphere are craton keels. [[w:Craton|Cratons]] are stable regions of the earth's crust that are no longer subject to mountain building processes. These craton roots or keels form through the depletion of basaltic elements into the asthenosphere, leading to less dense material that sinks deeper into the mantle due to the lower buoyancy (i.e. the isostasy of the crust, that is, rather than of the mountains).<ref>Sankaran, A.V. - [{{Reference archive|1=http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/nov102001/1158.pdf|2=2011-10-02}} CURRENT SCIENCE] - VOL. 81, NO. 9, 10 NOVEMBER 2001 pp. 1158-1160</ref> Craton keels are deep extensions of cratons into the mantle which extend any where from 60-300km below the surface. These keels extend far deeper than crustal (mountain) roots. The formation of these craton roots, or keels, is, however, unrelated to mountains or their formation.<ref name="Perchuk2021">Perchuk, A.L., Gerya, T.V., Zakharov, V.S. et al. [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2806-7 Building cratonic keels in Precambrian plate tectonics] Nature 586, 395–401 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2806-7</ref>

 

[[File:Craton-keel.png|alt=|thumb|425x425px|center|Dynamic model of craton keel formation (fig. 5 in Perchuk et al. (2020) ''Building cratonic keels in Precambrian plate tectonics''<ref name="Perchuk2021"/>]]