8. What makes the ocean salty? 



For many years it was assumed that the ocean began as fresh water 

 and that the age of the earth could be determined by comparing the 

 annual increase of salt from rivers with the total salt in the ocean. How- 

 ever, radioactive dating of rocks indicates that the earth is much older 

 than the age derived by such method. 



It is now generally believed that the primeval seas were initially salty, 

 having dissolved their salts from the rocks underlying their basins. Break- 

 ing up of continental rocks by frost and erosion has added to the salts of 

 the sea, but the dissolved material in rivers contains higher percentages 

 of carbonates than does sea water, where chlorides predominate. 



The saltiness of the oceans is undoubtedly increasing, but it is a slow 

 process which has been going on for hundreds of millions of years. 



Carrington, Richard 



A Biography of the Sea, Basic Books, 1960. 

 Engel, Leonard, and Editors of LIFE 



The Sea, Life Nature Library, Time, Inc., 1961. 

 Miller, Robert C. 



The Sea, Random House, 1966. 



