Naked Science Forum

General Discussion & Feedback => Just Chat! => Topic started by: ukmicky on 27/08/2005 20:45:13

Title: salty water
Post by: ukmicky on 27/08/2005 20:45:13

why are our sea's salty?

where does all that salt come from?

and would life still of evolved if the seas were fresh water?

Title: Re: salty water
Post by: Razor on 28/08/2005 00:44:05

Ahh, as water flows from rivers to seas, it picks up small amounts of mineral salts from the rocks and soil of the river beds. The water in the oceans only leaves by evaporating, but the salt remains dissolved in the ocean - it does not evaporate. So the remaining water gets more and more salty as time passes.

And If all the oceans were fresh, well, life would not exist, simple as that, because water soluble salts would not exist on the planet, and about 75% of a human's body mass is a saline(salt content) solution

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Title: Re: salty water
Post by: ukmicky on 28/08/2005 02:44:56

So does that mean in the distant future our seas will be to salty for life to survive within.
No more fish and chips

Title: Re: salty water
Post by: Razor on 28/08/2005 08:38:50

Not necessarily, just means the seas will have a higher concentration of saline solution, and the fish usually learn to adapt to the constant changing conditions.

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Xbox Live GamerTag: RazorXV7/ /RazorXV9

"If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life."
-Brooke Shields

"A verbal contract is not worth the paper it's written on."
-Samuel Goldwyn

"The private enterprise system indicates that some people have higher incomes than others."
-Gerry Brown

Title: Re: salty water
Post by: daveshorts on 28/08/2005 09:41:47

Salt can also get taken out of the system in hot dry salt pans that then get buried - a good example would be the dead sea - the results of these have produced huge salt domes under the north sea which have created a lot of the oil traps there.

So the sea will not necessarily get saltier with time, it depends whether more salt is being erroded out or is being put down by evaporation...