Summary:
- Ocean water is salty because water dissolves minerals out of rocks.
- By mass, salts make up about 3.5% of ocean water.
- The amount of salts in ocean water varies from place to place.
- Water density increases as salinity and pressure increase, or as temperature decreases.
- Temperature and pressure also affect density of water in the oceans.Differences in water density are responsible for deep ocean currents, as will be discussed in the concept "Deep Ocean Currents" Use the resource below to answer the questions that follow.