25:53: And He it is Who has made the two seas to flow freely, the one sweet, very sweet, and the other saltish, bitter. And between the two He has made a barrier and inviolable obstruction.
Yet we know saltwater and freshwater do mix, such as in phenomna known as brikish water and estuaries.
Haloclines where there is some kind of "barrier" between waters with different salinity are usually only sustainable in caves and are an exception.
Consider the following Quranic verses: "He has let free the two bodies Of flowing water, Meeting together: Between them is a Barrier Which they do not transgress." [Al-Quran 55:19-20]
In the Arabic text the word barzakh means a barrier or a partition. This barrier is not a physical partition. The Arabic word maraja literally means 'they both meet and mix with each other'. Early commentators of the Quran were unable to explain the two opposite meanings for the two bodies of water, i.e. they meet and mix, and at the same time, there is a barrier between them. 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. [Principles of Oceanography, Davis, pp. 92-93] Oceanologists are now in a better position to explain this verse. There is a slanted unseen water barrier between the two seas through which water from one sea passes to the other.
But when the water from one sea enters the other sea, it loses its distinctive characteristic and becomes homogenized with the other water. In a way this barrier serves as a transitional homogenizing area for the two waters. This scientific phenomenon mentioned in the Quran was also confirmed by Dr. William Hay who is a well-known marine scientist and Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado, U.S.A. The Quran mentions this phenomenon also in the following verse: "And made a separating bar between the two bodies Of flowing water?" [Al-Quran 27:61]
This phenomenon occurs in several places, including the divider between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean at Gibralter. But when the Quran speaks about the divider between fresh and salt water, it mentions the existence of "a forbidding partition" with the barrier. "It is He Who has Let free the two bodies Of flowing water: One palatable and sweet, And the other salty and bitter; Yet has He Made a barrier between them, And a partition that is forbidden To be passed." [Al-Quran 25:53]
Modern science has discovered that in estuaries, where fresh (sweet) and salt-water meet, the situation is somewhat different from that 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." [Oceanography, Gross, p. 242. Also see Introductory Oceanography, Thurman, pp. 300-301.] This partition (zone of separation) has salinity different from both the fresh water and the salt water. [Oceanography, Gross, p. 244 and Introductory Oceanography, Thurman, pp. 300-301.] This phenomenon occurs in several places, including Egypt, where the river Nile flows into the Mediterranean Sea.
Meeting of the Waters, Manaus, Brazil This is where the black waters of the Rio Negro meet the brown waters of the Solimoes River.
Christ will never be proud to reject to be a slave to God .....holy Quran, chapter Women , 4: 172
Re: Does the Quran get the mixing of saltwater and freshwater wrong?
See how the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet...
Just when I was getting happy with Barbados and Trinidad, a good friend sent me this photograph he took while on a flight from Capetown to Johannesburg in South Africa.
What you see is where and how the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet at "Cape Agulhas" exactly as the verses of the Noble Qur'aan have described.
55:19. He released the two seas, they meet.
55:20. Between them is a barrier so neither of them transgresses.
55:21. So which is it of the favours of your Lord do you deny?
One's water is blue, cold and sweet while the other is more green, warm and salty. They don't cross their limits, yet man transgresses daily.
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