why is the ocean salty, and how did it get that way?
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Lots of people are focusing on the fact that fresh water picks up salt from the land. But I think that’s missing the point and has it backward.
The oceans are absolutely massive and deep and contain the vast majority of liquid water on earth. The default state of water on earth is salty and it got that way mostly just by virtue of covering most of its surface and dissolving whatever is there.
The real question is why is water on land mostly NOT salty, and that’s where the other answers come in; water on land is fresh because rain isn’t salty and washes the salt into the ocean.
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