Eli5. Salt melts ice. Glaciers sit in an ocean of salt. Glaciers don’t melt.

Question

Eli5. Salt melts ice. Glaciers sit in an ocean of salt. Glaciers don’t melt.

In: Earth Science

Answer 1

Salt is a solute, which when added to water (ice in this case) lowers its freezing point.

The freezing point of water is 0 degrees on Celsius scale. Addition of salt will lower its freezing point, to some negative temperature.

The geological locations where Glaciers exist, the temperatures are way below 0 degrees. So even though the freezing point of ice is lower, the temperature is still lower than the final freezing point of the salt-water solution, hence it tends to remain in the solid state.