How did the oceans get on the earth?
488166
The idea that comets supplied the early water is very well supported by cometary orbital patterns and chemical composition.  The only other major theory is that the water was present during the first formation (as it would be, since water is a common component of solar nebulae) and survived the extremely hot birth...not likely, but not impossible under certain conditions.  Another more far-fetched theory, though possible, is that the large (Mars-sized) body which impacted Earth about 5 billion years ago (which current theory proposes led to the formation of the moon) had a large abundance of water on it-but again, the extreme heat energy would have driven most of that off.  It is also possible that the water did get driven off in the early hot years of Earth, but stayed in the same orbit, and slowly fell back to Earch again over the eons- not very well supported, but it's a theory.
826959
The basic answer to that is:\nAs water falls on land and runs into the oceans it picks up minerals.\nWhen it gets to the ocean the minerals get mixed into the ocean water.\nSunlight causes the water to evaporate but leaves the minerals behind.\nThe water then falls on land again repeating the process.\nEventually the salt content in the oceans built up to where it is today. And continues to build up.
58110
It is quite simple really. There is no 'theory' as some of the posts have indicated. The earth is composed of a number of large plates, which move constantly (the Pacific Ocean today is spreading at 4-5 cm per year). As these plates move, they sometimes slide under one another. As this happens, the upper plate is lifted. This moves rock that was deposited in an ocean environment slowly upwards and often to the top of mountains. The process takes millions of years, so it is likely the rocks that contain the shells on the top of the mountain your husband refers to are tens of millions of years old, or older. \n\nA perfect example is Mount Everest, which has carbonate rocks (with shells) at the peak. Other examples are many parts of the Rocky Mountains in North America, and the Alps in Europe. The Sierra's in California also contain carbonate rocks in many places that did in fact originate in what is now the Pacific Ocean. It is not rare and not mysterious or theoretical. \n\nThe names of these processes, in case you want to learn more, are plate tectonics (previously called continental drift), subduction (one plate under another), orogeny (mountain building), and carbonate sedimentology( deposition of carbonate rocks).  I'm including some links with basic explanation of the concepts. \n\nAnimated illustrations of plate tectonics:\nhttp://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/tectonics.html\n\nIllustration of subduction:\nhttp://www.platetectonics.com/book/page_12.asp\n\nOrogeny:\nhttp://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/platetec/orogeny.htm\n\nCarbonate sedimentology (great pictures of carbonates in mountains (sea shells):http://epswww.unm.edu/sed/home.htm\nOther carbonate sedimentology links:\nhttp://www.unige.ch/sciences/terre/geologie/w_groups/carbonate_sedimentology/webmain.html\n\nIf you want to see my explanation for how sea shells form in the ocean go to this question:\nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiyMjODIRNiCqQ3uGA0_ICPsy6IX?qid=1006011004317
1150478
It's widely believed in the scientific community that the earth has a liquid mantle (that's where magma/lava comes from) and a solid super-hot iron core.  Good luck digging through that.
818829
Scientific theories behind the origins of sea salt started with Sir Edmond Halley in 1715, who proposed that salt and other minerals were carried into the sea by rivers, having been leached out of the ground by rainfall runoff. Upon reaching the ocean, these salts would be retained and concentrated as the process of evaporation (see Hydrologic cycle) removed the water. Halley noted that of the small number of lakes in the world without ocean outlets (such as the Dead Sea and the Caspian Sea, see endorheic basin), most have high salt content. Halley termed this process "continental weathering".
465815
Wind driven surface currents (such as the Gulf Stream) head polewards from the equatorial Atlantic Ocean, cooling all the while and eventually sinking at high latitudes (forming North Atlantic Deep Water). This dense water then flows downhill into the deep water basins, only resurfacing in the northeast Pacific Ocean 1200 years later. Extensive mixing therefore takes place between the ocean basins, reducing differences between them and making the Earth's ocean a global system. On their journey, the water masses piggyback both energy (in the form of heat) and matter (solids, dissolved substances and gases) around the globe. As such, the state of the circulation has a large impact on the climate of our planet.  It's also called thermohaline circulation
274970
it passes through the pacific, atlantic, and indian oceans. really the only ocean it doesnt pass through is the arctic ocean.
71958
muromets is correct. You can model this yourself using clay. On a cookie sheet, put a half inch of water. On top, put a 1/2 layer of rolled clay. This is what the earth was liked pre-flood. The earth was watered from below. Now break open the center and the water will burst forth (as Genesis describes) and now the clay is covered by the water as the clay sinks. Now pull the clay out toward the corners and the water will display into seas.\nIn order for the continental drift to occur properly, the earth would have had to expand, thus making physics of the covering of the earth with water and its later displacement to be quite possible.
384989
The bootom of the ocean has, of coure, a density larger than the surface of the ocean. Despite this large density, the bottom of the ocean is not motionless. It circulates around the globe on what is called the Ocean Conveyor Belt driven by differences in density at the bottom of the ocean.
624816
Several people on here are actually right. The first two are both right.\n\nThe first one had the most simplistic but straight forward answer.\n\nRocks are eroded and the sediments are carried away as runoff into rivers & other low lying places. Most of this sand is carried onto the coastal plains & into the ocean & deposited there.\n\nSince the desert has very little weathering by water it is usually done by wind through a process called abrasion. Sand grains brushing up against rocks wearing it away like sandpaper.\n\nHowever, like someone pointed out earlier, in earth's past life many times the ocean as regressed & transgressed bringing deposits of sand with it. It could have gotten there by that method but more than likely these deposits became sedimentary rock first & was then worn away later by wind.
232284
The waters of the oceans are pulled downwards by gravity; they flow around the planet in currents.  The continents shift and drift and the water flows into the spaces left.  The moon's gravity pulls the water and creates tides.  The waters of our little planet are in constant motion.
730462
It's due to gravity. \nThe Moon Tide\nThe earth and the moon are two great masses that have a significant gravitational pull on each other. This is what keeps the moon in orbit around the earth, and it is also what causes tides to occur in the ocean. Picture the earth with a uniform level of water all around it.  The moon’s gravity pulls on the earth, and pulls the water towards it. The water moves up into a slight bulge on the side of the earth that faces the moon. At the same time, there is a force pulling water out in the opposite direction of the moon.\n\nCheck this link.\n\n\nIt will answer all your questions.\n http://oceanlink.island.net/oinfo/tides/tides.html
1043030
Most of the earth Surface is Covered with water, but that's only a small fraction of the planet itself. The Earth is made up mostly of silicate and magezeuim compunds and an iron core.
191847
The oceans are in relative equilibrium.  They aren't getting saltier.  There are several salt "sinks" which take the accumulated salt and remove it from the ocean.\n\nThe following is an excerpt from this Web reference on the subject:\n\nb. Sinks (removal processes) of ocean salinity include salt spray which is blown over land; at oceanic ridges magnesium and sulfate ions are incorporated into mineral deposits; calcium, sulfate, and sodium are deposited as biogenous sediments in animal shells and fecal pellets; most importantly, almost all ions can be absorbed to the surface of sinking clay and biological particles.\nhttp://www-ocean.tamu.edu/~duce/chapter07.html\n\nDoing a Yahoo Search for:\nocean salinity salt removal\nhttp://search.yahoo.com/search?p=ocean+salinity+salt+removal&ei=UTF-8&fr=slv1-&x=wrt\n\nyou can find a number of related articles that talk about what happens to the salt.\nhttp://www.palomar.edu/oceanography/salty_ocean.htm\nhttp://www.geo.arizona.edu/geo2xx/geo212_2/Lectures/OC05.SaltGas.pdf#search='ocean%20salinity%20salt%20removal'\nhttp://www.oceansonline.com/salts.htm
804217
the ocean is like the wind it has layers of different kinds of salinity of water and tempratures.it has currents going one way and the deeper you go they go an other way some are slow while others can move at highway speeds.it is what keeps the oceans stired up .hot water on the top while you have very cold dense water on the bottom,the heat of the earth is the engine of life
660670
For thousands, even millions of years, little pieces of our earth have been eroded--broken down and worn away\nby wind and water. These little bits of our earth are washed downstream where they settle to the bottom of the rivers, lakes, and oceans. Layer after layer of eroded earth is deposited on top of each. These layers are pressed down more and more through time, until the bottom layers slowly turn into rock.
264363
Good thinking, unlike some of the answers here. Anything put in or on the water displaces water and makes the water level rise. The ocean is so huge that you could not measure it unless the rock was so large you could not move it.