What causes differences in the salinity of ocean water in different areas?

What causes differences in the salinity of ocean water in different areas?

Evaporation of ocean water and formation of sea ice both increase the salinity of the ocean. However these “salinity raising” factors are continually counterbalanced by processes that decrease salinity such as the continuous input of fresh water from rivers, precipitation of rain and snow, and melting of ice.

Do different parts of the ocean have different amounts of salt?

Each ocean has a different salt content and each ocean is not uniformly salty – rather different areas and seas have higher or lower salt levels. On average, saltwater contains 35 grams of salt per kilogram, according to Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

What are the sources of salt in ocean water quizlet?

Two major sources of sea salts are chemical weathering of rocks or continents and from earths interior through volcanic eruptions. Adding water to seawater causes decreases in salinity. From examples of how water is added to the seawater are precipitation, runoff from land, icebergs melting, and sea ice melting.

What are the sources of salt in ocean water?

Salt in the ocean comes from two sources: runoff from the land and openings in the seafloor. Rocks on land are the major source of salts dissolved in seawater. Rainwater that falls on land is slightly acidic, so it erodes rocks.

What are the causes of ocean salinity?

Salt in the sea, or ocean salinity, is mainly caused by rain washing mineral ions from the land into water. Carbon dioxide in the air dissolves into rainwater, making it slightly acidic. When rain falls, it weathers rocks, releasing mineral salts that separate into ions.

How does salt get in the ocean?

Salt in the ocean comes from two sources: runoff from the land and openings in the seafloor. Rocks on land are the major source of salts dissolved in seawater. Rainwater that falls on land is slightly acidic, so it erodes rocks. Ocean water seeps into cracks in the seafloor and is heated by magma from the Earth’s core.

How can we obtain the salt from the ocean water?

The sea water evaporates due to the sun’s heat and solid salt is left behind. The left salt is collected and refined to get purified salt. Hence, salt is obtained from sea water by evaporation.

What is the source of most of the salt in the ocean quizlet?

What are the sources of salt in ocean water? Most of the salt in seawater is sodium chloride, common sea salt. Explain the relationship between latitude and sea surface temperature. The oceans surface temperature varies with the amount of solar radiation received, which is primarily a function of latitude.

Which are the two main sources of do in the ocean?

Dissolved Oxygen

• Dissolved Oxygen (DO) is the amount of oxygen dissolved in lake water.
• Dissolved oxygen is supplied to a lake from two main sources: plant and algae photosynthesis and diffusion from the atmosphere.
• Dissolved oxygen is used by two main processes: respiration and decomposition.

Which is not a source of salt in the ocean?

Rivers and surface runoff are not the only source of dissolved salts. Hydrothermal vents are recently-discovered features on the crest of oceanic ridges that contribute dissolved minerals to the oceans.

How does salinity affect the ocean?

Salinity can affect the density of ocean water: Water that has higher salinity is denser and heavier and will sink underneath less saline, warmer water. This can affect the movement of ocean currents. It can also affect marine life, which may need to regulate its intake of saltwater.

What are the two factors that control the salinity of seawater?

What are two factors that control the salinity of seawater quizlet? Evaporation and temperature are the two main factors that control the concentration of salts in seawater.

What is the main source of salt in the ocean?

Rocks on land are the major source of salts dissolved in seawater. Rainwater that falls on land is slightly acidic, so it erodes rocks. This releases ions that are carried away to streams and rivers that eventually feed into the ocean.

Why is the Mediterranean Sea so salty?

The Mediterranean Sea is an area with more salinity, because it is relatively closed-off from the rest of the ocean, and has warm temperatures leading to lots of evaporation. When water evaporates, the salt is left behind. Slight changes in salinity can change the density of ocean water. More saline water is denser than water with fewer salts.

Why is the ocean less salty near the shore?

In some areas near shore, fresh water from rivers and streams may cause the ocean to be less salty. The same may happen in polar areas where there is a lot of ice—as the weather warms and the ice melts, the ocean will have less salinity. In the Antarctic, the salinity can be around 34 ppt in some places.

What is the role of salt in the ocean circulation?

Salt is really just a molecule in the ocean water, but collectively, that salinity plays an important role in the ocean circulation. The rule is simple – salt makes water heavier, so it sinks. In other words, salty water has more materials in the water than freshwater which makes it more dense than freshwater.