Laura Baker, age 9, of Winston‑ Salaem,

How did the sea get so salty?

This is one of Andy’s most popular questions, for every young visitor to the beach wonders why the tangy, blue‑green sea water is so salty.

Actually, the salt is just one of many chemicals dissolved in the ocean and all these chemicals were stolen from the land, The robbers are the streams and rivers which have been running over the land for millions of years. Running water tends to wear away rocks and pebbles, breaking them down into fragments too small for our eyes to see, These fine fragments become dissolved in the running rivers and toted to the sea.

Year by year, more and more salts and other chemicals are dissolved by the rivers and dumped in the sea. As the ages go by, the sea collects more and more chemicals from the land and its waters get saltier and saltier.