Why is there salt in the ocean water's?

Answer 1

First let's define salt. Salt doesn't just mean your everyday table salt, there are all different types of salts. Every time you have an acid-base chemical reaction, you get at least two end products: a salt and water. So salts are everywhere. Now, I guess the question is why is there so much salt in the oceans. Well, most salts are soluble in water, so all the acid base reactions in the world create all these aqueous solutions of salt and water. Water always flows downhill, towards the lowest possible elevation it can reach. The rivers of the world start at the tops of mountains as melting snowfall, they pick up the salts from the rocks and such as they flow downhill, and then they deposit the salts at the bottom, the oceans. And as water evaporates, the salts precipitate out and get left behind, making the oceans salty. Then the water falls again as rain and the whole cycle continues.

Answer 2

Just an addition to Dylan Ks answer - The reason the amount of salt in the oceans stays about the same is because the added salt ends up on the ocean floor and is compressed. This is the source of salt that is mined - it comes from salt deposits that have come to the surface due to shifts in ocean levels. Salt in mines was deposited when the land was under water.
Does anyone know why the ocean would deposit salt when it is over a certain amount????

Answer 3

The world is full of salt. And salt dissolves in water. When the water gets to the ocean, and the water evaporates. Where does the salt have to go. Billions of years of that and you get salty oceans.

Answer 4

There is salt in the ocean waters because when water flows through rivers, it collects sediment. This sediment flows with the water down to a body where it can not escape, such as the ocean. Salt is one of those minerals that are picked up and does not evaporate easily. The Dead Sea is also a good example of the sediment flowing to a water body it can't escape from.

Answer 5

Contrary to what all the others answered to this question, the major source of ocean salt is not due to erosion, that is a minor source. The major source of salts are due to black smokers and white smokers near spreading centers on the ocean floors. As water meets upwelling magma it becomes superheated and accepts ions from the magma. These then spew out into the oceans where they dissipate into the oceans or collect on the ocean floor.

Answer 6

Its salty because the earths crust contains salts and as it rains it runs down in to creeks and rivers, and all major rivers end up in the ocean