Why Is the Ocean Salty?

Every glass of seawater contains dissolved minerals. Most of the salty taste comes from sodium and chloride, the same two elements found in table salt.

Rainwater is slightly acidic. As it moves over rocks, it slowly breaks them down and picks up tiny charged mineral particles called ions.

Streams and rivers carry those ions downhill. The water reaches the ocean, bringing a small mineral delivery from across the land every day.

Sunlight evaporates water from the ocean, but salt does not evaporate with it. Over millions of years, this water cycle has allowed salt to accumulate.