Like, how is the ocean salty but the great lakes are fresh? Are there some lakes that are salty?
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In essence, natural distillation.
When water evaporates, it’s just the water, the salt is left behind. That water then falls down as rain, which is pretty much pure water (although sometimes there’s significant contaminants, usually from pollution). So water from lots of places falls, runs down hills and mountains, collects in streams, then rivers, and eventually flows into lakes.
Water also flows out of these lakes and into the ocean. So if lakes were salty, salt water would flow out and be replaced with fresh water. Keep repeating this for long enough, and basically all the salt if flushed out.
The ocean stays salty because it’s the end point of these rivers. Everything that dissolves in water will end up in the ocean, and it’s not really gaining new water since the water cycle is a closed loop. Global warming, fossile fuel emissions, melting ice caps, etc do mess that up a bit, but that’s a different topic.
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Salt Lake City is by a lake that has saltwater. I also think I’ve read somewhere that it’s getting saltier as more water flows into it but doesn’t flow out of it, although I can’t remember where I read that or if it’s true.
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