I've surfed almost everyday since I can remember and have never understood this.
2007-09-18 01:48:26 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
The constant erosion of Igneous and Metamorphic rocks ( which are highly mineralized), dissolves some of the minerals and the water passes down rivers to the sea. Warmer weather evaporates some of the water which rises high in the sky to become clouds. The water vapor is pure water , the salts it contained are left behind in the sea.
Over the course of millions of years of this process, the seas get saltier and saltier and will slowly increase their salt content for a long time to come.
2007-09-18 02:29:42 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
The Oceans are a salt sink. Minerals are extracted from continental rocks by the various types of errosion, carried to the seas by rivers and deposited. Some mineral salts remain in solution while others are locked up in sediments. This is why the salinity of the Oceans doesn't change over time, as one would normally expect them to become saltier and saltier.
2007-09-18 03:49:44 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Everything is made up of minerals, including sea water.Millions of years of erosion of mineral based rocks has fed sea water with the mineral salt, and it is simply cause and effect, the salt based water continue to erode the mineral based ecology e.t.c, keeping the balance.
2007-09-18 02:09:28 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
B'caz the sea water is drained by the Rivers meeting the sea. The rivers carry with them all sorts of minerals from the terrain they are flowing through ultimately depositing into the sea. That's why the sea water is so saline.
2007-09-18 02:25:37 · answer #4 · answered by Hibernation 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Volcanic Activity at the ocean floor release the raw elements that produce the salts in the ocean. It is pretty constant as the salts have already diffused in the water.
2016-05-17 12:27:32 · answer #5 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's a very question I.ve never thought about it myself and I also grew up beside the sea,sorry can't help you,enjoy your surfing,I'll be in South Africa in Novermber,can't wait to feel the waves wash over me,Lol just thinking of it makes me wish I'm there already.
2007-09-18 04:02:53 · answer #6 · answered by Wonderstar 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The real reason seawater is saline has little to do with erosion of continental rocks. It is due to black smokers and white smokers. These vents take ions (i.e. salt) out of upwelling basalt and put it into the seas, thus increasing oceanic salinity.
2007-09-18 02:37:13 · answer #7 · answered by Amphibolite 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is collected from salt rock and washed into the ocean.
2007-09-18 01:51:07 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋