Page 487 - Learning from the Qur'an

crust. When two plates collide, the stronger one slides under the
other, the one on the top bends and forms heights and mountains.
The layer beneath proceeds under the ground and makes a deep
extension downward. That means that mountains have a portion
stretching downwards, as large as their visible parts on the Earth.
In a scientific text, the structure of mountains is described as
follows:
Where continents are thicker, as in mountain ranges, the crust
sinks deeper into the mantle. 2
In a verse, this role of the mountains is pointed out by a
comparison with "pegs":
Have We not made the earth as a bed and the mountains its
pegs? (Qur'an, 78:6-7)
Mountains, in other words, clench the plates in the Earth's
crust together by extending above and beneath the Earth's surface
at the conjunction points of these plates. In this way, they fix the
Earth's crust, and prevent it from drifting over the magma stratum
or among its plates. Briefly, we may liken mountains to nails that
keep pieces of wood together.
This fixing function of the mountains is described in scientific
literature by the term "isostasy". Isostasy means the following:
Isostasy: general equilibrium in the Earth's crust maintained
by a yielding flow of rock material beneath the surface under
gravitational stress. 3
This vital role of mountains, that was discovered by modern
geology and seismic research, was revealed in the Qur'an centuries
ago as an example of the supreme wisdom in Allah's creation.
We placed firmly embedded mountains on the earth, so it
would not move under them... (Qur'an, 21:31)

THE MOVEMENTS OF THE MOUNTAINS
In one verse, we are informed that mountains are not
motionless as they seem, but are in constant motion.

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