Why is the sea salty?
One theory states that the sea is salt because of the “mid-Ocean” rift. Fresh basalt flows up through the rift along with “juvenile water; water that is made up of many of the components of sea water including chlorine, bromine, iodine, and many other molecules. Also some salts get into the ocean through volcanoes and even fresh water rivers carries salt into the sea. The sea is composed of many other things. Scientist over the years has conducted many experiments to prove not only of what the sea is made have but also many other things. In 1715 a scientist named Edmund Halley had a theory to prove the age of the ocean by the rate of salt that is transported through the rivers. In 1889 a scientist by the name of John Joly decided to test this theory and found out the sea is approximately ninety million years old. Also another scientist by the name of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier conducted the first analysis of seawater two hundred years ago. Another concept developed by John Murray in the nineteenth century states that the weight is never determined but instead the total amount of chloride ion is carefully measured and a total for all other ions is computed by applying the constancy of relative proportions. Also A.M. Marcet, Johann Forchammer, and Wilhelm Dittmar have researched this theory. Now in the last forty years geochemist have really began looking into the chemistry of the ocean. Not only can the chemistry tell us what the sea is made have but also a history of the sea. For example the salinity of the sea has not really change in its history. The reason the sea’s salinity has not changed is because of its strong buffering zones. Today’s scientist has also begun to look at rain as it reaches the sea.
On Wednesday, February 15th, I was able to have the opportunity to listen to Andrew Lipman. Andrew Lipman is the author of The Saltwater Frontier: Indians and the Contest for the American Coast. In the novel, he explained the life of Native Americans living in New England and on the coast of Long Island. During this time, most individuals relied on trading natural resources. In order for profit for the resources, the colonists and Native Americans used wampum. Wampum was used as a sacred gift in Native American culture as a peace offering, funerals and marriages. Colonialists had an advantage towards using wampum. They used beads as a commodity for furs. Native Americans relied on canoes for transportation. Canoes can hold up to fifty people.
The start of the book focuses mainly on how salt was first discovered and used in the ancient world.
Herndon J. M, 2005, Current Science, Scientific Basis of Knowledge of Earth’s Composition, 88, 1034-1036)
The historical fictional novel, Salt to the Sea, by Ruta Sepetys, takes four main characters, Florian, Joana, Alfred, and Emilia, on one shocking adventure to get onto the ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff, to escape the war that’s hunting them throughout Germany. They encounter death, happiness, and tragedy, which brings them closer. Their lives intervene as they learn to forget their past and get a fresh start. One theme that is learned by the characters is that honesty bonds people together and builds trust, while lies ruin that trust.
Charles Lyell Charles Lyell was a British lawyer and one of the smartest geologists known at his time. He was known as the author of the Principles of Geology, which helped popularize the theories and concepts of uniformitarianism. The Principles of Geology was the first book written by Lyell and explained the changes in the earth’s surface. He used the research and information in the book as his proof to determine that the earth was over 6,000 years old. The central argument in his book was “the present is the key to the past”, this meant that to find out what happened in the past you had to look at what was happening now.
Introduction: The question that the researcher is trying to answer is if there is acidification alters oceanic life due to a change in pH. The hypothesis is if there is a change in pH in the tank then the fish will have altered feeding patterns, stunted growth, and abnormal behavior. Even if there is a slight change in pH distinct abnormalities will occur. This simulation of this experiment will represent a sample for the whole ocean and how pH has affected ocean life due to runoff and toxic waste put into the water.
Molecules were then washed ashore and exposed to heat and sunlight. Through a series of trial and error bases chemical reactions formed cells. The first ones were simple only with the new permeable membrane so it could absorb nutrients. After absorbing so many amino acids it was able to replicate itself. Bacteria now was growing off the undersea volcanoes vents living off of hydrogen sulfide. Some of these developed hard shells and others with soft membranes. Meanwhile tectonic plates during this time were shifting drastically and created mountain ranges which altered rain patterns and led to the falling of even more rain which created rivers. These rivers washed out new nutrients found in land out to the oceans. Minerals from land reacted with carbon dioxide which resulted in the production of oxygen. As temperatures cooled algae created glucose through photosynthesis and released gross amounts of oxygen into the ocean. The oxygen reacted with the metallic ions found in the ocean and cause oxidation which caused the sea to turn a rusty red.
People discovered salt around 900 B.C. They would dig up salt near the Dead Sea and in South America. Salt has been important in the world’s culture for thousands of years. People used to use it to preserve meat or fish. Salt was so valuable that in several places, some would use it as money and others would trade it off for something else. (Aasen, et Al 1999).
5. Kellert, S.R. and E.O. Wilson, editors. 1993 The Biophilia Hypothesis. Island Press, Washington, DC
In the salt and sand separation challenge our salt and sand measurements were off because we used to many transitions. We lost 6.79% of our sand and gained 10.97% of our salt. This shows that our procedure had flaws in it and should have been revised before we conducted the experiment.
The beginning of the industrial revolution resulted in an increase in the amount of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) released into the atmosphere due to an increase in industrial and agricultural productions. The ocean absorbs approximately 32% of the CO2 that is released from burning fossil fuels into the atmosphere each year, and thus the dramatic increase in atmospheric CO2 is coupled with an equally drastic increase of CO2 absorbed by the ocean. Ocean acidification is simply the process of the chemical change in seawater caused by the absorption of CO2 (Schlesinger & Bernhardt, 1997).
Ocean currents are horizontal or vertical movement of both surface and deep water throughout the world’s oceans (Briney, n.d.). The primary generating forces are wind and differences in water density caused by variations in temperature and salinity. Currents generated by these forces are modified by factors such as the depth of the water, ocean floor topography and deflection by the rotation of the Earth. Horizontal currents are wind driven, fast moving and carries small amount of water; while, vertical currents are slow moving, density driven and carries large bodies of water. In this paper I will describe horizontal and vertical currents, their importance and some of the tools used to measure ocean currents.
The first known freshwater fish, and fish with jaws appears. The Silurian strata contains fossils that indicate the previous presence of life during that period. The law of superposition was used to determine the sequence of the rocks, hence the relative ages of the rocks. When speaking of the
Since the 18th century Industrial Revolution, approximately 1.6 trillion tons of carbon dioxide have been added to the atmosphere through the combustion of fossil fuels and deforestation (Harrould-Kolieb and Herr 378). The world’s oceans have absorbed approximately 30% of that carbon dioxide. This absorption has been beneficial in keeping that 30% out of the atmosphere, where it causes Climate Change, but it has a negative impact on water quality. When carbon dioxide reacts with water, it forms carbonic acid. In the oceans, carbonic acid releases hydrogen ions which increase the acidity of the water. Because of human action, the acidity of the ocean has risen 30% since pre-industrial times and by 2050 ocean acidity is projected to be the highest in 20 million years (Harrould-Kolieb and Herr 379).
Ocean water is often referred to as salt water. Ocean water becomes salty as water flows in rivers, it picks up small amount of mineral salts form rocks and soil of the riverbeds. This very-slightly salty water flows into the oceans. The water in the oceans only leaves by evaporating, but the salt remains dissolved in the ocean, it does not evaporate. So the remaining water gets saltier and saltier as time goes on.