What Is the Most Abundant Salt in the Ocean?

Young girl in the Dead Sea holding sea salt in her hands, En Bokek, Israel, Middle East
Young girl in the Dead Sea holding sea salt, En Bokek, Israel. Getty Images/Elan Fleisher/LOOK-foto
By
Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
Chemistry Expert
  • Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
  • B.A., Physics and Mathematics, Hastings College
Dr. Helmenstine holds a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences and is a science writer, educator, and consultant. She has taught science courses at the high school, college, and graduate levels.
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Updated on January 30, 2019

There are several salts in seawater, but the most abundant is ordinary table salt or sodium chloride (NaCl). Sodium chloride, like other salts, dissolves in water into its ions, so this is really a question about which ions are present in the greatest concentration. Sodium chloride dissociates into Na+ and Cl- ions. The total amount of all types of salt in the sea averages about 35 parts per thousand (each liter of seawater contains about 35 grams of salt). Sodium and chloride ions are present at much higher levels than components of any other salt.

Chemical Concentration (mol/kg)
H2O 53.6
Cl- 0.546
Na+ 0.469
Mg2+ 0.0528
SO42- 0.0282
Ca2+ 0.0103
K+ 0.0102
C (inorganic) 0.00206
Br- 0.000844
B 0.000416
Sr2+ 0.000091
F- 0.000068
Molar Composition of Seawater

Reference: DOE (1994). In A.G. Dickson & C. Goyet. Handbook of methods for the analysis of the various parameters of the carbon dioxide system in sea water. 2. ORNL/CDIAC-74.

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Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. "What Is the Most Abundant Salt in the Ocean?" ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/kinds-of-salt-in-sea-water-609432. Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. (2020, August 26). What Is the Most Abundant Salt in the Ocean? Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/kinds-of-salt-in-sea-water-609432 Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. "What Is the Most Abundant Salt in the Ocean?" ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/kinds-of-salt-in-sea-water-609432 (accessed June 10, 2023).