Floating mountains

From the Early Pandora Wiki Canon Real world

The floating mountains, called Ayram alusìng by the Na'vi and the Hallelujah Mountains by humans, are giant rocks that hover in the air above Pandora. They contain lots of unobtanium, a superconducting mineral pulled by Pandora's strong magnetic currents, so chunks of land are torn loose and drift like icebergs in the sky. Canon

Unobtanium (Na'vi lingtskxe, "floating rock") is the mineral humans came to mine. Canon

Inspired by Earth

The mountains were inspired by the tall stone pillars of Zhangjiajie in China. Real superconductors really can float above strong magnets, though not mountain-sized ones! Real world

In early Pandora

Wiki lore says the early swamp clans believed the floating mountains were the "stepping stones of Eywa," and that the tak migrated by flying from one to another in a great blue V each season. Wiki lore