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Modern
Science has discovered that in the places where two
different seas meet, there is a barrier between them.
This barrier divides the two seas so that each sea
has its own temperature, salinity, and density.
For example, Mediterranean sea water is warm, saline,
and less dense, compared to Atlantic ocean water.
When Mediterranean sea water enters the Atlantic over
the Gibraltar sill, it moves several hundred kilometers
into the Atlantic at a depth of about 1000 meters
with its own warm, saline, and less dense characteristics.
The Mediterranean water stabilizes at this depth (see
figure 13).
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Figure
13:
The Mediterranean sea water as it enters the
Atlantic over the Gibraltar sill with its
own warm, saline, and less dense characteristics,
because of the barrier that distinguishes
between them. Temperatures are in degrees
Celsius (C°). (Marine Geology, Kuenen, p.
43, with a slight enhancement.)
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Although
there are large waves, strong currents, and tides in these
seas, they do not mix or transgress this barrier.
The
Holy Quran mentioned that there is a barrier between two
seas that meet and that they do not transgress. God
has said:
He
has set free the two seas meeting together. There
is a barrier between them. They do not transgress.
(Quran, 55:19-20)
But
when the Quran speaks about the divider between fresh and
salt water, it mentions the existence of “a forbidding partition”
with the barrier. God has said in the Quran:
He
is the one who has set free the two kinds of water, one
sweet and palatable, and the other salty and bitter.
And He has made between them a barrier and a forbidding
partition. (Quran, 25:53)
One
may ask, why did the Quran mention the partition when speaking
about the divider between fresh and salt water, but did
not mention it when speaking about the divider between the
two seas?
Modern
science has discovered that in estuaries, where fresh (sweet)
and salt water meet, the situation is somewhat different
from what is found in places where two seas meet.
It has been discovered that what distinguishes fresh water
from salt water in estuaries is a “pycnocline zone with
a marked density discontinuity separating the two layers.”
This partition (zone of separation) has a different salinity
from the fresh water and from the salt water (see figure
14).
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Figure
14:
Longitudinal section showing salinity (parts per
thousand ‰) in an estuary. We can see here
the partition (zone of separation) between the fresh
and the salt water. (Introductory Oceanography,
Thurman, p. 301, with a slight enhancement.)
(Click on the image to enlarge it.)
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This
information has been discovered only recently, using advanced
equipment to measure temperature, salinity, density, oxygen
dissolubility, etc. The human eye cannot see the difference
between the two seas that meet, rather the two seas appear
to us as one homogeneous sea. Likewise, the human
eye cannot see the division of water in estuaries into the
three kinds: fresh water, salt water, and the partition
(zone of separation).
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