Salinity

main: Salinity

Although the vast majority of seawater has a salinity of between 3.1% and 3.8%, seawater is not uniformly saline throughout the world. Where mixing occurs with fresh water runoff from river mouths or near melting glaciers, seawater can be substantially less saline. The most saline open sea is the Red Sea, where high rates of evaporation, low precipitation and river inflow, and confined circulation result in the formation of unusually salty seawater. The salinity in isolated bodies of water (for example, the Dead Sea) can be considerably greater.

The density of surface seawater ranges from about 1020 to 1029 kg·m^-3, depending on the temperature and salinity. Deep in the ocean, under high pressure, seawater can reach a density of 1050 kg·m^-3 or higher. Seawater pH is limited to the range 7.5 to 8.4. The speed of sound in seawater is about 1500 m·s^-1, and varies with water temperature and pressure.

Compositional differences from fresh water

Seawater is more enriched in dissolved ions of all types than fresh water.http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Mi-Oc/Ocean-Chemical-Processes.html Thomson Gale, "Ocean Chemical Processes". Retrieved 12/2/06. However, the ratios of various solutes differ dramatically. For instance, although seawater is about 2.8 times more enriched with bicarbonate than river water based on molarity, the percentage of bicarbonate in seawater as a ratio of all dissolved ions is far lower than in river water; bicarbonate ions constitute 48% of river water solutes, but only 0.41% of all seawater ions.Paul R. Pinet, Invitation to Oceanography, (St. Paul: West Publishing Company, 1996), pp. 126, 134-135 Differences like these are due to the varying residence times of seawater solutes; sodium and chlorine have very long residence times, while calcium (vital for carbonate formation) tends to precipitate out much more quickly.

Geochemical explanations

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, see endorheic basin), most have high salt content. Halley termed this process "continental weathering".