<p>Ocean water is full of mineral salts which enter through the rivers, passing through rock and soil. <strong>Water has a property of evaporation whereas salt does not, so a lot of salt is left behind.</strong></p>
<p>Oceans are saline throughout the world, but the Mediterranean Sea is saltier. Many oceans are less salty due to the regular mixing of fresh river water.</p>

Saltwater: The Reason An Ocean Is Salty

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

health

Health

entertainment

Entertainment

<ul><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/"><i> </i> </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/news"><span>News </span> </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/space"><span>Space &amp; Physics </span> </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/health"><span>Health </span> </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth"><span>Planet Earth </span> </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/strange-news"><span>Strange News </span> </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/animals"><span>Animals </span> </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/history"><span>History </span> </a> </li><li><a href="https://forums.livescience.com/"><span>Forums </span> </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/technology"><span>Tech </span> </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/culture"><span>Culture </span> </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/references"><span>Reference </span> </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/62824-about-us.html"><span>About Us </span> </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/download-your-favorite-magazines.html"><span>Magazine subscriptions </span> </a> </li><li>More <i> </i><i> </i><ul> </ul> </li> </ul>

<ul><span>Trending </span><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/topics/coronavirus">Coronavirus News </a> </li><li><a href="https://forums.livescience.com">Forum </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/topics/lifes-little-mysteries">Life's Little Mysteries </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/download-your-favorite-magazines.html">Magazine Deals </a> </li><li><a href="https://teespring.com/stores/livescience-apparel">Cool Merch </a> </li> </ul>

<p>By <span><a href="https://www.livescience.com/author/live-science-staff"><span>Live Science Staff </span> </a> </span><time>17 September 2012 </time> </p>

<p>Oceans make up about 70 percent of Earth’s surface. But why is the ocean salty? </p>

<p>Ocean water contains lots of different mineral salts: sodium, chloride, sulfate, magnesium, calcium, potassium, bicarbonate and bromide. These salts enter the ocean through rivers, which pass over rocks and soil, picking up salt along the way. </p>

<p>This salt builds up in the ocean because the only way water can leave the ocean is through evaporation. And when the water evaporates it doesn't take the <a href="https://www.livescience.com/20179-salt-leading-killer-worldwide.html">salt </a>with it. So you end up with less water, and the same amount of salt, resulting in a pretty salty sea. </p>

<p>The same thing can happen to a smaller, landlocked body of water, such as the Great Salt Lake in Utah, where water evaporates quickly in the desert climate — the lake has dropped 20 feet since 1849. A favorite pastime for visitors is to float on the lake like a cork, because the high salinity makes people more buoyant. </p>

<p>Ocean salinity levels can vary dramatically from place to place. For example, the Mediterranean Sea is more salty than oceans off the coast of continents that have large freshwater rivers, such as the Amazon. The Atlantic Ocean near the mouth of the Amazon River has relatively low salinity due to the mixing of fresh river water with salty ocean water. </p>

<p><em>Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @<a href="http://twitter.com/#!/llmysteries">llmysteries </a>. We're also on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/LifesLittleMysteries">Facebook </a>&amp; <a href="https://plus.google.com/b/115527392301630827938/115527392301630827938">Google+ </a>. </em> </p>

<p>Stay up to date on the coronavirus outbreak by signing up to our newsletter today. </p>

<p>Thank you for signing up to Live Science. You will receive a verification email shortly. </p>

<p>There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again. </p>

<ol><li><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/stranded-whale-new-species-endangered.html"><picture><source/><source/><img src="https://vanilla.futurecdn.net/livescience/media/img/missing-image.svg"/> </picture> </a><div><span>1 </span><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/stranded-whale-new-species-endangered.html">Whale that stranded off Florida is completely new species (and already endangered) </a> </div> </div> </div> </li><li><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/himalaya-flood-india-destroys-dam.html"><picture><source/><source/><img src="https://vanilla.futurecdn.net/livescience/media/img/missing-image.svg"/> </picture> </a><div><span>2 </span><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/himalaya-flood-india-destroys-dam.html">18 dead and hundreds missing in catastrophic Himalayan avalanche </a> </div> </div> </div> </li><li><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/spacex-crew-break-space-record.html"><picture><source/><source/><img src="https://vanilla.futurecdn.net/livescience/media/img/missing-image.svg"/> </picture> </a><div><span>3 </span><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/spacex-crew-break-space-record.html">SpaceX's Crew-1 astronauts break 47-year US space record </a> </div> </div> </div> </li><li><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/europe-oldest-person-survives-covid-19.html"><picture><source/><source/><img src="https://vanilla.futurecdn.net/livescience/media/img/missing-image.svg"/> </picture> </a><div><span>4 </span><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/europe-oldest-person-survives-covid-19.html">Europe's oldest person survives COVID-19 </a> </div> </div> </div> </li><li><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/stonehenge-graves-enclosure-discovered-tunnel-construction.html"><picture><source/><source/><img src="https://vanilla.futurecdn.net/livescience/media/img/missing-image.svg"/> </picture> </a><div><span>5 </span><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/stonehenge-graves-enclosure-discovered-tunnel-construction.html">Ancient graves and mysterious enclosure discovered at Stonehenge ahead of tunnel construction </a> </div> </div> </div> </li> </ol>

<ol><li><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/himalaya-flood-india-destroys-dam.html"><picture><source/><source/><img src="https://vanilla.futurecdn.net/livescience/media/img/missing-image.svg"/> </picture> </a><div><span>1 </span><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/himalaya-flood-india-destroys-dam.html">18 dead and hundreds missing in catastrophic Himalayan avalanche </a> </div> </div> </div> </li><li><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/whale-stress-animation.html"><img src="https://vanilla.futurecdn.net/livescience/media/img/missing-image.svg"/> </a><div><span>2 </span><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/whale-stress-animation.html">Stressful animation shows blue whale dodging hundreds of ships while trying to feed </a> </div> </div> </div> </li><li><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/who-was-buried-sutton-hoo.html"><picture><source/><source/><img src="https://vanilla.futurecdn.net/livescience/media/img/missing-image.svg"/> </picture> </a><div><span>3 </span><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/who-was-buried-sutton-hoo.html">Who was buried at Sutton Hoo? </a> </div> </div> </div> </li><li><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/potentially-hazardous-asteroid-whizzes-near-earth-2001-fo32.html"><picture><source/><source/><img src="https://vanilla.futurecdn.net/livescience/media/img/missing-image.svg"/> </picture> </a><div><span>4 </span><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/potentially-hazardous-asteroid-whizzes-near-earth-2001-fo32.html">Asteroid the size of the Golden Gate Bridge will whiz past Earth in March </a> </div> </div> </div> </li><li><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/nasa-peru-amazon-gold-pits-photo.html"><picture><source/><source/><img src="https://vanilla.futurecdn.net/livescience/media/img/missing-image.svg"/> </picture> </a><div><span>5 </span><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/nasa-peru-amazon-gold-pits-photo.html">'Rivers of gold' rush through the Peruvian Amazon in stunning NASA photo </a> </div> </div> </div> </li> </ol>

<p>Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. <a href="http://www.futureplc.com">Visit our corporate site </a>. </p>

<ul><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/62824-about-us.html">About Us </a> </li><li><a href="http://www.futureplc.com/terms-conditions/">Terms and conditions </a> </li><li><a href="http://www.futureplc.com/privacy-policy/">Privacy policy </a> </li><li><a href="http://www.futureplc.com/cookies-policy/">Cookies policy </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.futureplc.com/accessibility-statement/">Accessibility Statement </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/topics">Topics </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/how-to-advertise-with-us.html">Advertise with us </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.livescience.com/how-to-turn-off-web-notifications-for-chrome-macos.html">Web notifications </a> </li> </ul>

Why Is the Ocean Salty? | Salt in the Ocean | Live Science

Saltwater: The Reason An Ocean Is Salty

CURATED BY

Related collections

More like this