Tasting ocean water is like drink a glass of water spiced with lot of salt, showing that the ocean body contains salt Note: Over 40 minerals and metals contained in seawater
Fact shows that 70% of the earth surface is covered by the water, and the larger part of this amount being the oceans. By now you should know that’s a large amount of salt present on our planet residing in the ocean.
But the question is
How did the Oceans Get Salty?
During the earth formation, erupting volcanoes covered the earth – spewed enormous amount of gases into the air. Those gases dissolved in early oceans around them, which is how they became salty in the first place.
Is the ocean getting saltier?
They remain salty today because all rain that falls and all water that flows over the surface of the planet ends up in the ocean. As it flows across rocks and through soil, more salt dissolves in the water and is carried to the ocean.
The saltiest ocean is the Atlantic, and the least salty are the oceans at the poles, but all of them have a lot of salt.
MINERAL MAKEUP OF OCEAN WATER
sodium chloride, calcite what is the most abundant salt, Here are minerals found in the ocean:
ELEMENT |
MOLECULAR WEIGHT |
PPM IN SEAWATER |
MOLAR CONCENTRATION |
Chloride | 35.4 | 18980 | 0.536158 |
Sodium | 23 | 10561 | 0.459174 |
Magnesium | 24.3 | 1272 | 0.052346 |
Sulfur | 32 | 884 | 0.027625 |
Calcium | 40 | 400 | 0.01 |
Potassium | 39.1 | 380 | 0.009719 |
Bromine | 79.9 | 65 | 0.000814 |
Carbon(inorganic) | 12 | 28 | 0.002333 |
Strontium | 87.6 | 13 | 0.000148 |
Boron | 10.8 | 4.6 | 0.000426 |
Silicon | 28.1 | 4 | 0.000142 |
Carbon (organic) | 12 | 3 | 0.00025 |
Aluminum | 27 | 1.9 | 0.00007 |
Fluorine | 19 | 1.4 | 0.000074 |
N as nitrate | 14 | 0.7 | 0.00005 |
Nitrogen (organic) | 14 | 0.2 | 0.000014 |
Rubidium | 85 | 0.2 | 0.0000024 |
Lithium | 6.9 | 0.1 | 0.000015 |
P as Phosphate | 31 | 0.1 | 0.0000032 |
Copper | 63.5 | 0.09 | 0.0000014 |
Barium | 137 | 0.05 | 0.00000037 |
Iodine | 126.9 | 0.05 | 0.00000039 |
N as nitrite | 14 | 0.05 | 0.0000036 |
N as ammonia | 14 | 0.05 | 0.0000036 |
Arsenic | 74.9 | 0.024 | 0.00000032 |
Iron | 55.8 | 0.02 | 0.00000036 |
P as organic | 31 | 0.016 | 0.00000052 |
Zinc | 65.4 | 0.014 | 0.00000021 |
Manganese | 54.9 | 0.01 | 0.00000018 |
Lead | 207.2 | 0.005 | 0.000000024 |
Selenium | 79 | 0.004 | 0.000000051 |
Tin | 118.7 | 0.003 | 0.000000025 |
Cesium | 132.9 | 0.002 | 0.000000015 |
Molybdenum | 95.9 | 0.002 | 0.000000021 |
Uranium | 238 | 0.0016 | 0.0000000067 |
Gallium | 69.7 | 0.0005 | 0.0000000072 |
Nickel | 58.7 | 0.0005 | 0.0000000085 |
Thorium | 232 | 0.0005 | 0.0000000022 |
Cerium | 140 | 0.0004 | 0.0000000029 |
Vanadium | 50.9 | 0.0003 | 0.0000000059 |
Lanthanum | 139.9 | 0.0003 | 0.0000000022 |
Yttrium | 88.9 | 0.0003 | 0.0000000034 |
Mercury | 200.6 | 0.0003 | 0.0000000015 |
Silver | 107.9 | 0.0003 | 0.0000000028 |
Bismuth | 209 | 0.0002 | 0.00000000096 |
Cobalt | 58.9 | 0.0001 | 0.0000000017 |
Gold | 197 | 0.000008 | 0.00000000004 |
How much salt is in the oceans?
That means if we managed to dry up all the water in the oceans, the seabeds would be covered by a pile of salt as tall as a 12 storey building!
If we managed to get all that salt together, we could use it to build a wall a mile wide and 180 miles tall. That wall would stretch all the way around the world at the equator.
That’s a lot of salt!