Sea water is not uniformly saline throughout the world. The planet's freshest sea water is in the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea. The most saline sea is the Red Sea, where heat increases the rate of surface evaporation and there is little fresh inflow from rivers.
| Element | Percent | Element | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oxygen | 85.7 | Sulfur | 0.0885 |
| Hydrogen | 10.8 | Calcium | 0.04 |
| Chlorine | 1.9 | Potassium | 0.0380 |
| Sodium | 1.05 | Bromine | 0.0065 |
| Magnesium | 0.1350 | Carbon | 0.0026 |
| Table of contents |
|
2 Cultural Aspects 3 Related Links |
Scientific theories behind the origins of sea salt started with Sir Edmond Halley in 1715, who proposed that salt and other minerals were carried into the sea by rivers, having been leached out of the ground by rainfall runoff. Upon reaching the ocean, these salts would be retained and concentrated as the process of evaporation (see Hydrologic cycle) removed the water. Halley noted that of the small number of lakes in the world without ocean outlets (such as the Dead Sea and the Caspian Sea), most have high salt content. Halley termed this process "continental weathering".
Halley's theory is partly correct. In addition, sodium was leached out of the ocean floor when the oceans first formed. The presence of the other dominant element of salt, chlorine, results from "outgassing" of chlorine (as hydrochloric acid) with other gases from Earth's interior via volcanos and hydrothermal vents. The sodium and chlorine subsequently combined to become the most abundant constituent of sea salt.
Ocean salinity has been stable for millions of years, most likely as a consequence of a chemical/tectonic system which recycles the salt. Since the ocean's creation, sodium is no longer leached out of the ocean floor, but instead is captured in sedimentary layers covering the bed of the ocean. One theory is that plate tectonics result in salt being forced under the continental land masses, where it is again slowly leached to the surface.
Even on a ship or island in the middle of the ocean, there can be a "shortage of water" meaning, of course, a shortage of fresh water. This is described most famously by a line from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:
Ocean Salinity
Cultural Aspects
Seawater can be turned into drinkable water by the process of desalination.
