A vast ocean under the sun, where every drop carries dissolved salts, the result of millions of years of natural chemical processes (Photo: Pinterest)
Have you dipped your hand into the sea and tasted the unmistakable saltiness? That flavor is something not everywhere in the world and it has been a slow process over millions of years. Livorose it so far salts have brought the seas through landscape formations, climatic impacts and water systems.
Rainwater does not only nourish plants it also breaks down rocks and flowing down regular mountains, hills and valleys, as it is deposited on this surface, captures minimal amounts of minerals which are carried downstream into rivers that act as conveyor belts, transporting dissolved salts like sodium and chloride into oceans and making ocean salt infliction possible.
The saltiness in seawater primarily comes from the same sodium chloride present in table salt but beyond that, more other dissolved minerals such as magnesium, potassium and calcium also enter the majority of defined salt. They further add to the unique flavor of the seawater and influence its physical attributes. On average, a liter of seawater contains about 35 grams of salts with variation depending on the area, evaporation and rainfall.
Rivers by depositing salts would increase the salinity of water then, the salt would accumulate indefinitely making the ocean so intensely salty that plants and animals could hardly withstand it. But nature is full of balance part of that salt goes into the constructions that shellfish and skeletons build. Other minerals settle at the ocean bottom as sediments with these off switches ensure that ocean salinity remains relatively stable over the millennia.
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Salt remains one of the most critical factors in creating a marine environment. The person to whom water density matters is ocean currents itself an important regulator of climate, ecosystems and biodiversity. Literally every organism of the sea-from a planktonic speck to an entire whale-has evolved to live in a specific salinity range, if any change occurs in that range and it might bring something along that disrupts reproduction, feeding or movement.
As water flows down rocky landscapes, it collects mineral bits from rocks and soil-just like wiping a sticky surface with a wet cloth. These dissolved particles ultimately reach the sea via rivers and streams. In course of time, this accumulates drip by drip.
The continuous natural cycle in operation tends to maintain this salty equilibrium for Earth:
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This is a super simple activity of science just to check out making salts:
Steps include:
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Disclaimer: This article is intended for informational and educational purposes only. The scientific explanations presented are based on current understanding and research but may evolve with new discoveries
