Why is it that the SEA is SALTY

The ocean—the seas—are made up of 96.5 percent pure water. The remaining 3.5 percent is made up of 75 other elements. Six elements are responsible for 99 percent of the sea's saltiness. They are: chloride, sodium, sulfur, magnesium, calcium, and potassium. Most of the saltiness comes from the compound sodium chloride (ordinary table salt). The elements come from the wearing away of rocks on land. As rock erodes, rivers carry the salts and other minerals to the ocean. Volcanoes and undersea springs also release salts to the ocean. Some parts of the ocean are saltier than others. Hudson Bay has lower levels because of fresh water entering the ocean from lots of rivers and melting ice. Source: http://www.yesmag.bc.ca/Questions/sea.html Saltiness of the sea is measured by its salinity. Oceanographers report salinity (total salt content) and the concentrations of individual chemical constituents in sea water -- chloride, sodium, or magnesium for example -- in parts per thousand, for which the symbol o/oo is used. That is, a salinity of 35 o/oo means 35 pounds of salt per 1,000 pounds of sea water. Similarly, a sodium concentration of 10 o/oo means 10 pounds of sodium per 1,000 pounds of water. The salinity of ocean water varies. It is affected by such factors as melting of ice, inflow of river water, evaporation, rain, snowfall, wind, wave motion, and ocean currents that cause horizontal and vertical mixing of the saltwater. The saltiest water (40 o/oo ) occurs in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, where rates of evaporation are very high. Of the major oceans, the North Atlantic is the saltiest; its salinity averages about 37.9 o/oo. Within the North Atlantic, the saltiest part is the Sargasso Sea, an area of about 2 million square miles, located about 2,000 miles west of the Canary Islands. The saltiness of this sea is due in part to the high water temperature (up to 83º F) causing a high rate of evaporation and in part to its remoteness from land; because it is so far from land, it receives no fresh-water inflow. Source: http://www.palomar.edu/oceanography/salty_ocean.htm

Wow that is a very interesting question, something that has always been there and yet I have never even thought about, I wonder where the salt does come from, I hope some smart person can give a good answer here, I really want to know now....