Book 16, Question 123
Why Does Some Desert Water Taste Salty or Bitter?
Some desert water tastes salty or bitter because it has dissolved minerals from the rocks around it! Water that sits in rock for a long time picks up salt. In dry places, evaporation leaves those minerals behind.
More fun facts
- Water picks up dissolved minerals from the rocks and soil it touches.
- Salt deposits such as halite, which is rock salt, and gypsum dissolve very easily in water.
- Water that stays in contact with rock for a long time can pick up even more minerals.
- Where there is little rain, evaporation and plants can leave salts behind in the soil, and the salts can soak down into shallow groundwater.
- Some salty groundwater is ancient seawater that was trapped in rocks long ago.
- Scientists call groundwater brackish when it has between 1,000 and 10,000 milligrams of dissolved solids in each liter.
Sources: U.S. Geological Survey
Questions kids ask
Is brackish water as salty as the ocean?
No. It is saltier than fresh water but less salty than seawater, so it can sometimes be treated for drinking.