Why are the Oceans Salty?

Last Updated on October 21, 2020

Why are the Oceans Salty?

Nature is full of wonders. Everything happening in the sky, land, mountains, and oceans are marvelous. Have you ever wondered why the oceans are salty? One has to think why oceans water is salty, even though the rivers that flow into it are full of fresh water. There is a valid science behind it.

In the beginning, the oceans were probably less salty. But over time, the oceans became saltier. There is a reason behind it. we know the water cycle. Water from oceans evaporate into the sky as clouds, and these clouds create rains on the land, and the rain water is carried back to the oceans by rivers. So this is the natural cycle that is responsible for the salty ocean. Wondering how it is possible for the fresh water to make oceans salty? It can actually.

When the rains fall on the Earth, it breaks down the rocks. The minerals from the rocks are transported along with the rain water to the oceans. This makes the oceans saltier. But you could question if the same minerals are in rivers, why don’t they taste salty. This is because the rivers are running bodies and at any given point of time, only the collected minerals are present in the river water. Moreover, the rain replenishes the water streams and rivers, making them not taste salty. However, the ocean keeps on collecting the minerals for millions of centuries and this the ocean water is filled with more salt and minerals.

If this is the reason for the ocean waters to taste salty, why does the water remain saltier same for years now? This is because the deposited salts are probably deposited as sediments on the ocean bed. Thus, years of salt gains from rivers may cancel out the yearly losses as sediments. In other words, the ocean makes its water balanced from the salt input (from rivers) and output (sediments). As a result, oceans are no longer getting saltier. According to reports, the concentration of salt in seawater or the ocean salinity is about 35 parts per thousand.