Vast Rivers in the Depth of Seas and Oceans
Allah, the Most Exalted, says in the Holy Quran:
"He has let loose the two seas. They meet. There is a barrier between them. They encroach not one upon the other". Sura Al-Rahman: 19-20.
Is there a sea of fresh water that has plunged into a sea of salty water, and could these two seas be at the same place? The answer is yes, and this is what we are going to expound in this article.
This holy Ayat is referring to one of many miracles of Allah on earth, indicating that the world of seas is a world of miracles and mysteries, with rivers and currents flowing from one place to another, some of which flow in exactly the opposite direction of the other. And although they are all in the same place, they do not meet. These scientific information the Quran revealed 14 centuries ago have been discovered by science at a very late age. Therefore it adds another miracle to the Holy Quran's numerous miracles.
Allah, the most Exalted, has mentioned the seas and talked about their vastness and their benefits in many ayats of various surahs, starting with The Cow and ending by Al-Rahman.
To give a clear idea about the vastness of the sea waters in comparison with fresh water vapor and clouds in the sky, I will mention some of the related scientific data.
The waters that Allah sent down in measure reaches about 1360 million cubic kilometers.
"We have sent down the sky water in measure, and we gave it lodging in the earth". The believers: 18.
Of these waters some 1320 mkm are in the seas; about 97.2% of the total volume of water on earth. The rest of the waters are fresh and they are divided between the frozen waters in the poles and on the peaks of the mountains (2.15%) and ground water (0.625%). Waters of rivers springs and the like are only 0.0171%. While water vapour, clouds and rain water amount only to 0.0001 percent.
From the previous figures it is clear the extent of the volume of sea waters in comparison with how little the fresh waters are, yet each move in a regular course that Allah has decreed for them, and each contains different kinds of life... He says in his Holy Quran:
"And two seas are not alike, the fresh sweet, good to drink, this (the other) bitter salt, and from both you eat fresh meat, and derive the ornament that you wear" Fatir: 12.
The mysteries, wonders and secrets of the seas are still a closed world that science has not been able to uncover but a small part of. One of the seas wonders is the currents and rivers that flow deep inside the carrying fresh waters for long distances inside the sea, and which have been discovered only very recently.
According to scientific sources, the first scientist to talk about this phenomena and to draw attention to it's scientific importance was the American physicist Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). He noticed that American ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean reach England in a period less by two weeks than the, British ships that cross the same ocean coming from England.
When he asked the captains of the American ships about the reason, he discovered that they take advantage of the warm sea current that travels in the middle of the ocean at a speed of 3 miles an hour. Based on this information he set out to study this current in depth, and he drew a map that became to be known as the map of the Gulf Current, the same current which was to be studied relentlessly ever since.
This current starts its journey from the North Pole; it goes southward towards the British isles and the Spanish shores, then it goes back again to Central America with the help of the north wind that enables it to cross the Atlantic once more.
When the warm waters of this great current reach the snow mountains near the North Pole it clashes with frozen water currents that are moving southward from the North Pole. As a result of this enormous clash between these two currents, sweet fresh waters are formed when the snow melts, and they start to travel through many new currents, that clash with other newly formed salt water currents. It is estimated that 150 thousand tons of snow are melted in this short period. Further more the whole area would be covered with clouds and fog before the Gulf current turns to complete its circle heading back to Britain and then once again to Central America and the North Pole.
The strangest thing about this giant current that turns like a wheel with a width of 5 miles, a depth of 1500 feet and a diameter of 2000 miles is that it engulfs in its centre, near the island of Central America a very calm sea called Sarghaso Sea. This sea, with its position at the centre of the current, is similar to the axis of the wheel which stays in its place while the wheel turns. Stranger still is the fact that the centre of the sea is higher than any other sea on earth. It is even higher at its centre than its sides by about Four Feel.
This is due to the rise in temperature of its waters, and to the effect of the circular movement of the current as well.
This area in the middle of the sea (also known in some of its parts as the infamous Bermuda Triangle, looks like a calm lake in the centre of the sea that is full of floating plants and tree trunks that are swept by the Gulf current and thrown in the calm area, giving the impression to many sailors, as well as those who happen to take this route, that many ships were wrecked into pieces, and that the middle of the sea is a dangerous spot that sinks all the ships into depths. While the truth is that it is one of the calmest seas in the world inhabited by very few living animals and plants. More over, it is considered from the scientific point of view, a "sea desert" in the midst of a fertile sea rich in all forms of marine life.
But because the plants that are constantly thrown to the middle of the sea, have usually buoys attached to their branches, enabling them to float, many imagine that these frightening plants, will pull them down and sink their ships.
In fact, these floating plants form but a tiny layer on the surface, and the water underneath is practically void of any kind of living creatures.
Yet, the concentration of these plants is so intense that most ships have been warned against getting near that area for quite a long time (about 70 years), fearing that the plants will jam the propellers and ultimately sink the ships. This is why the Bermuda Triangle is dreaded, to the extent that even air pilots became afraid to fly over it. It is worth observing, in this report, that the recent scientific investigations have proved that such fears are not based on any scientific fact.
Now, let us go back to our main subject: The great Gulf current in the middle of the sea to add that there are many such currents, the most important of which is a current much similar to the Gulf current but in the Atlantic Ocean south of the Equator. It is rather an exact copy of the Northern current that runs from the coasts of South America to the South Pole. Thur Haydral, the famous archeologist has taken advantage of this current in his expeditions, for it enabled him to cross the Atlantic Ocean in his primitive ship, thus proving that the first inhabitants of South America were able to cross the ocean to Africa, with the help of this current.
Greater still and more astonishing are the rivers of a lesser salinity and temperature (that reaches sometimes, the freezing point). These rivers run under the currents and in a direction opposite to them, such as the river that runs under the Gulf Current. This current was given the name "Cromwell" after the man who accidentally discovered it in 1951.
Subsequent studies that even included sending submarines to study the current in 1957 proved that this great current is located exactly under the Gulf Current but runs in the opposite direction. Its length is about 3500 miles but its speed is very slow and its temperature is very low. Some say that it takes about 300 years while others believe it needs about 1500 years to make its complete round under the Gulf Current. The most incredible example of the presence of two currents in the same place is found near the area of Jibraltar, where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean; During winter, as a result of the increase in the average of evaporation of the Mediterranean waters, in comparison with that of the Atlantic Ocean, the heavy waters (rich with a higher concentration of salt) would drive down into a lower depth of the sea, forming a current that runs more than 2000 miles in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. On the other hand, the lighter and warmer waters will travel in the opposite direction above the first current, towards the Mediterranean.
During the second world war, the German submarines, took advantage of these currents to avoid the torpedoes of the British Navy which used to have the upper hand in this area. The German submarines used to put of their engines, and let the current drive them from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean or vice-versa.
These wonders are almost unbelievable. There we have these roaring currents, which occurs in pairs one above the other but each in the opposite direction of the other. Yet neither of these currents runs into the one above or below it, as if they were separated by an invisible barrier. Glorified be Allah and high exalted above (all) they ascribe; for He says in the Glorious Quran:
"He has let loose the two seas. They meet; there is a barrier between them. They encroach not (one upon the other). Which is it, of the favours your Lord, that ye deny?" Al-Rahman: 19-21.
YASIN 81. "What! Is not He Who created the heavens and the earth able to create (again) the like of them? Yea! and He is the Creator (Omnipotent), the All-Knowing.
By Dr. Abd Al-Wahab Al-Hakim