Why aren’t rivers/estuaries/lakes etc salty like the sea ?

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Why aren’t rivers/estuaries/lakes etc salty like the sea ?

In: Planetary Science

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Make a pot of salt water.

In a different cup, fill with some tap water.

Now, pour a bit of water from the tap water cup into the salt water pot.

Does the cup become salty? No, because the salt water is staying in the pot and isn’t doing anything to the cup.

This is the interaction between rivers and the ocean; it is almost entirely one way (from fresh water to salt water), so there’s no reason for the saltiness to go against that direction.

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