• adj16@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I know this is just a meme, but I’ll share something I recently learned since I find it fascinating.

    The oceans started out as freshwater! Water evaporated from them, rained down as freshwater and formed into rivers and streams, and the process of flowing picked up trace amounts of salt from the ground and riverbeds. These rivers eventually dumped their ever-so-slightly salty water into the ocean. Then, the tiny tiny tiny bit salty ocean evaporated some pure water out, leaving less water - meaning the remaining water just got a little bit saltier in comparison. This process repeated for millions of years and those tiny increments resulted in the very salty oceans we have now.

    • jballs
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      1 year ago

      Sounds like in the future, people (or whatever intelligent life form is around then) will be like, “did you know the Earth didn’t always have a microplastic ocean?”

    • devfuuu@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      So god created a few lakes with drinkable water but he didn’t understanding enough about physics to know it would become salty. Got it.

      • broguy89@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Saltwater fish seem to drink it just fine. God just “loves” humans enough to not make it fit for our consumption.

      • adj16@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Exactly! I almost said something to that effect but decided my comment was getting a little long. God just left figuring out science to all these nerds he created 😂