3. ELI5: Why are oceans salty?

ELI5: Why are oceans salty?

Well I'm even more hazy on the palaeobiology side of things, but that paper I linked to had the subtitle of "implications for the course of microbial evolution", and states that the ocean conditions effectively limited life to bacteria for the first few billion years. This would have to include photosynthetic cyanobacteria to account for all the stromatolites formed in the Archean (4 billion - 2.5 billion years ago), not to mention that they provide the explanation for atmospheric oxygenation.

Went down a small rabbit hole to find that cyanobacteria apparently have ways of dealing with high salinity environments, based around 1) actively expelling certain inorganic ions, and 2) accumulation of compatible solutes which serve to increase internal osmolality, ensuring water uptake and establishing turgor pressure. I don't understand how the mechanisms that do this function, (biology isn't my thing) but I have the references to the papers that talk about it if you're interested.

/r/explainlikeimfive Thread Parent
Previous
Next

Recently removed from /r/explainlikeimfive

Eli5 What’s the difference between declaring bankruptcy and just being broke? Eli5: How do music producers (Especially Hip Hop producers) sample a stem from a song without taking the rest of the song with it? ELI5: Why is a 12V battery in a car so dangerous to short circuit but a normal 12V battery is harmless? ELI5: How do our brains remember things? ELI5 Why do we feel pain and how does our body know when to stop feeling it? ELI5: How are you able to go to bed super hungry, but wake up the next morning and not feel the need to eat anything? ELI5: where is the ringing noise coming from with tinnitus?? can’t google because it thinks im asking how people get tinnitus… Eli5 - Why do shows like American Idol and The Voice have such a low rate of producing/finding people who can be a commercial success? ELI5: What are "deductibles" in the context of medical insurance? If you're paying insurance, why do you still get charged an often large part of your medical expenses when you have an accident? ELI5 is looking for new moderators! ELI5 How do alligators & crocs, too I suppose, swim underwater in sandy, marshy water and not react to sand getting in their eyes? eli5: In the days of muskets, why did armies March straight towards each others fire? ELI5: Why do certain countries have ridiculous amount of hydrocarbons(oil and natural gas) and the countries right next to them have virtually none? Eli5: what exactly is a virus and are viruses alive? ELI5: How does a variable-yield nuclear weapon work to allow the operator to control the strength of the explosion?

More Random Comments

Mods are asleep, let’s get fucked by communism. What is the weirdest thing you have seen in someone else’s home? Reddit, what's something weird you do that you wonder if others do? Next decade is going to be the worst for US retail/community pharmacists... Daily Simple Questions Thread - September 04, 2018 [Serious]People who have a mental illness, whats your theory on how you developed it? Reboot Your Dreamliner Every 248 Days To Avoid Integer Overflow Asians dont disprove white privilege RAM It All: Rising Costs Are Turning EOS Into a Crypto Coder's Nightmare EU4 - Development Diary - 4th of September 2018 Guy I've Been Seeing Is Arrested (So Devastated). What do i do now? Two hundred of the world’s most prominent artists and scientists signed an open letter in French daily Le Monde on Monday calling for urgent political action to address the “global catastrophe” facing mankind and other species. Aretha Franklin’s family found eulogy by Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. ‘distasteful’ For the gay Anime fans: How difficult it is for you to interact with the community? How is Firewall if you're not a fan of using a mic?