As it turned out, due to the absence of such a familiar substance for all, a whole chain of catastrophic events will take place.
Salinity is one of the main characteristics of water masses, the distribution of marine organisms and elements of sea currents. It plays a special role in the formation of the biological productivity of the seas and oceans, since many organisms are very susceptible to minor changes, writes Science Focus.
The appearance of salt water can be attributed to several factors. Rocks on land are the main source of salts dissolved in seawater. Rainwater that falls on land has a weak acidity, so it destroys rocks. This releases ions, which are carried away into streams and rivers, eventually ending up in the ocean, where various chemical reactions take place.
Many of the dissolved ions are used by organisms in the ocean and are removed from the water, while the rest remain, so their concentration increases over time.
Another source of salt in the ocean is hydrothermal solutions that come from holes in the seabed. Ocean water seeps into cracks in the seabed and is heated by magma from the Earth’s core. Heat triggers a series of chemical reactions.
Some ocean salts are formed by underwater volcanic eruptions that directly eject minerals into the ocean.
But what happens if all the ocean salt disappears?
A liter of seawater contains about 35 grams of dissolved salt, so 45 million billion tons of salt will need to be removed to desalinate the entire ocean.
The sudden decrease in weight pressing on the seabed will cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions around the world. Since fresh water is less dense, the Arctic ice sheet will sink another 10 cm into the water, creating the largest tidal wave that has ever occurred on the planet.
After a few hours, virtually all marine life will die as their cells swell and rupture due to osmosis (water molecules move to areas with higher salt concentrations). They will sink to the bottom of the ocean, but their bodies will not be able to decompose, because all marine bacteria will also be dead.
Algae are responsible for at least half of the oxygen production on Earth, so a mass extinction will also occur on land.
Eventually, the oceans will undergo re-salinization because minerals are constantly being dissolved from land by rivers and transported to the sea, but this will take tens of thousands of years.
