Solved cryptogram
The salt in the ocean was carried there by rivers, a little at a time, dissolved out of rock.
Earth Science Facts, sourced to NOAA.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 72 letters over 20 different ones, graded medium.
Or go to the puzzle’s own page first.
What it means
Rain is slightly acid, it dissolves a trace of mineral from every rock it runs over, and rivers deliver that to the sea. The water then evaporates and the salt does not, so it accumulates. Undersea vents add more. The reason rivers taste fresh is not that they carry nothing but that they are a one way trip: the ocean is the end of the line, and it has been collecting for billions of years.
The claim comes from NOAA.
- SourceNOAA
- CollectionEarth Science Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length72 letters, 20 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
- U.S. Geological Surveyhard, 75 letters
- U.S. Geological Surveyhard, 72 letters
- NOAAmedium, 71 letters
- NOAAmedium, 75 letters
About as hard as this one
Scored closest to it by the model behind our guide to solving cryptograms.
- U.S. Geological Surveymedium, 74 letters
- NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratorymedium, 82 letters
- U.S. Geological Surveymedium, 78 letters
- National Snow and Ice Data Centermedium, 70 letters