MOUNTAINS AS PEGS

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MOUNTAINS AS PEGS

6- Have We not made the earth habitable? 
7- And the mountains as pegs? 
78-The Event, 6-7 

Mountains are often mentioned in the Quran. The simile of pegs seems to be 
preternatural in the light of geological findings of the last century. The 
mountains we observe on the surface of the earth rest on immense strata that may 
be ten to fifteen times as deep as the portion remaining on the surface of the 
earth. For instance, the highest mountain on earth, whose peak attains an 
altitude of 9 km from the ground, possesses a substratum that goes about 125 km 
into the depths of the earth. For a peg to be able to fulfill its function, the 
length of the portion stuck in the earth is important. The same holds true for 
the mountain. 

There also exist mountains rising from the bottom of seas that also possess 
substratum. These substrata support the visible portion of the mountains in 
accordance with the Archimedean principle. These substrata were unknown until a 
few centuries back, let alone during the time of the Prophet. The simile in the 
Quran is once again a miraculous statement.

FUNCTION OF MOUNTAINS
In geology textbooks that have not been updated, information is not available 
about the role the mountains play, the role of stabilizing the crust of the 
earth. However, there are some publications on this issue. 

The book entitled ?Earth? is one of the many now on the market. Frank Press, 
author of this book, is the president of the Academy of Sciences, adviser to 
Jimmy Carter, ex-President of the USA. This author likens the mountains to 
wedges, the greater part of which remain underneath the surface of the earth. In 
this book, Dr. Press explains the functions of mountains, drawing special 
attention to their important role in stabilizing the crust of the earth. This 
information exactly matches the statement in the Quran: 

31- ?And We have set on the earth mountains standing firm lest it should shake 
with them.? 
21-The Prophets, 31 

Actually, the crust of the earth floats on a liquid. This outermost layer of the 
earth extends 5 km from the surface. The depths of the mountain strata go as far 
down as 35 km. Thus, the mountains are sort of pegs driven into the earth. Just 
like the pegs used to stabilize a tent on the ground, so these pegs stabilize 
the crust of the earth. Mountains are the outcome of collisions between strata 
of the earth?s crust; the result of the encroachment of a given stratum on 
another one. These strata that go deeper and deeper enable the crust layers to 
integrate. 

Isostasy is defined in the Webster?s Third New Twentieth Century Dictionary as 
follows: ?Isostasy is the general equilibrium in the earth?s crust, maintained 
by a yielding flow of rock material beneath the surface under gravitate stress, 
and by the approximate equality in mass of each unit column of the earth from 
the surface to a depth of about 100 km.? At a time when mountains were viewed as 
mere prominences, the Quran?s reference to mountains? strata invisible to the 
eye and their stabilization role leaves us in awe.

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