Science in the Glorious Quran: The Fissured Structure of Earth

 .”وَالسَّمَاءِ ذَاتِ الرَّجْعِ.  وَالْأَرْضِ ذَاتِ الصَّدْعِ” (الطارق:11-12)

“By the sky which returns (rain) and [by] the Earth which cracks open.” (Qur’an, 86:11-12)

The external surface of the Earth is split by a large number of cracks (faults), which divide the Earth’s surface into a mosaic of plates. The plates are always moving and interacting in a process called plate tectonics.

If Earth had been slightly smaller and less massive, it would not have plate tectonics. Plate tectonics are the forces that move continents and build mountains.

The geological fact of plate tectonics was only realized in the middle of the last century and yet it is described in the Holy Qur’an which was revealed more than 14 centuries ago.

The mosaic of moving plates of Earth (left) and cracks running from north to south and east to west (right)

The moving plates of the Earth