In Alberuni's descriptions one comes across the assertion regarding the permanency of the existence of water expanses on the surface of the earth. He explains that 'the sea yields to constant evaporation but it can dry out only if its water shifts to another location. However, the idea of its total disappearance should be completely dismissed as impossible for that would lead to the destruction and extinction of all life. Water is one of the four basic elements on the earth and it cannot disappear altogether.⁵⁶ Herein Alberuni disagrees with Aristotle who, according to him believed that the sea expanses and turned into totally dry lands with the passage of time. It would be seen that according to Alberuni they do but only in the sense that they shift their location.