Ocean

:: Barrier between seas ::

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Allah says:

"And it is He who has let free the two seas (kinds of water): this is palatable and sweet, and that is salty and bitter; and He has set a barrier and a complete partition between them"

- Ar-Rahman, 25: 53

(1) http://www.thekeytoislam.com/en/scientific-explanations/oceans.shtml

The fact that the water of the oceans do not mix with each other, has only been discovered lately by oceanographers. This is due to the physical force called "surface tension"; therefore, waters of neigboring seas do not mix. It is caused by the difference in density of their waters; surface tension prevents them from mingling with one another, just as if a thin wall were between them. 

There are 3 main salinity regimes in coastal waterways;

1. stratified

2. partially mixed

3. fully mixed

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(2) http://www.quran-m.com/firas/en1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=253:the-description-of-the-barrier-between-two-seas&catid=35:universe&Itemid=91

Oceanographers, in the wake of the scientific progress in this age, have discovered the barrier between two seas. They have found that a barrier separates two neighboring seas. The barrier moves between them, and is called by scientists "a front" compared to the front between two armies. By virtue of this barrier each sea retaians its own characteristics which Allah (SWT) has assigned to it and which are suitable for the organisms living in that environment.

Because of this barrier, the two neighboring seas mingle so slowly that the amount of water that passes from one sea to the other acquires the characteristics of the other sea while crossing the barrier which overturns the waters crossing from one sea to the other, keeping each sea with its own characteristics.

The gradual process of human knowledge about the fact of the differences between seawater masses and the existence of barriers between them:

1873 AD (1284 AH):

Oceanographers discovered that there were certain differences between water samples taken from various seas by the British Marine Scientific Expedition of the Challenger Voyage. It was discovered that masses of sea water vary in their composition, in respect of salinity, water temperature, density and types of marine organisms. The data were obtained from 362 oceanographic stations. The report of the expedition filled 29, 500 pages in 50 volumes and took 23 years to complete. 

One of the great achievements of scientific exploration, 

the expedition also showed how little man knew about the sea. 

1933 AD:

Another American expedition set out in the Mexican Gulf and installed hundreds of sea stations to study the characteristics of seas. It found out that a large number of stations in a certain area gave similar information about the characteristics of the water in that area, whether in respect of salinity, density, temperature, marine organisms or solubility of oxygen in water, while another group of stations in another area gave a different set of data about that area. So, oceanographers concluded that there were two distinctive seas with different characteristics, and not just limited samples as the Expedition of Challenger showed.

Man installed hundreds of marine stations to study the characteristics of various seas. Scientists have found out that the differences in these characteristics distinguished one sea from another.

 But why do these seas not mix and become homogeneous in spite of the effect of tide and ebb that moves sea water twice a day, and causes seas to move forward and backward turbulently, besides other factors that cause sea water to be in continuous movement and turbulence, such as surface and internal waves and sea currents?

1942 AD (1361 AH):

The answer appeared for the first time in scientific books. 

Extensive studies of marine characteristics revealed that there are water barriers separating neighboring seas and maintaining the distinctive properties of each sea with respect to density, salinity, marine life, temperature and solubility of oxygen in water.

There are large waves, strong currents, and tides in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Mediterranean Sea water enters the Atlantic by Gibraltar. But their temperature, salinity, and densities do not change, because of the barrier that separates them.

1962 AD:

There was known the role of sea barriers in modifying the properties of the water masses that pass from one sea to another, to prevent one sea from overwhelming the other. So salty seas retain their own properties and boundaries by virtue of these barriers.

A field study comparing the waters of Oman Gulf and those of the Arabian Gulf has shown the difference between them regarding their chemical properties, the prevalent vegetation and the barrier separating them.

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