Why do oceans have salt water?
Answer The oceans contain salt because the earth contains large amounts of substances that form ions. Ions are chemicals that have separated into pieces that have positive and negative electrical charges. These ions readily dissolve in water and cause the water to be salty. A better question is how do other waterbodies keep from being salty. The answer is that all natural surface water contains some salt. Some inland waterbodies are high in salt content because the salts are concentrated as the water evaporates. Others have enough freshwater coming in from rainfall and runoff that the salt levels are kept low. Some waterbodies are not located in areas that have a lot of salt forming substances.
