Sea Water Minerals
Sea water is a huge reservoir of various minerals that ultimately affect the salinity, temperature, pH, that is,
acidity or alkalinity of sea water at a particular place and ultimately influences both the biotic as well as the
abiotic components that are harboured in that particular place.
The sea water is mainly composed of the salts of various elements that remain dissolved in it.
Among them, the most predominant is the chloride salt of sodium or more widely known as common salt.
Apart from this, there are also salts of various other elements like magnesium, potassium etc. with the anions
like chloride, sulphate, bisulphate, carbonate and bicarbonate.
The minerals present in the sea water exist mainly due to the chemical reactions that occur constantly between
the basaltic rocks below and the sea- water.
In fact, it is very important to understand and analyse the chemical composition of sea water in order to
determine the various chemical properties that sea water normally exhibits.
Potassium, calcium, bromine, magnesium, sodium and sulphur are the most important minerals present in sea
water.
Apart from these, aluminium, iron, vanadium , manganese, chromium and nickel are also found.
Rare earth minerals such as germanium, rubidium, and strontium are also found in negligible amounts.
In fact, dissolved particulate, inorganic and organic carbon also make up a large part of the entire range of
minerals that remain dissolved in sea water.
Some radioactive minerals can also be found in sea water though only in traces.
It is the presence of these minerals along with their salts that provide sea water with its characteristic salty
taste.
Sea water is generally found to have a salinity composition of 3.5 per cent.
Some of these minerals can be found in no places except the seas.
It can thus be rightly said that the seas are one of the greatest gifts of nature, not only for its varied flora
and fauna, but also for its material value.
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