After reading this question about the origin of NaCl on Earth, I'm wondering: How did the amount of NaCl develop historically? Is it a more or less linear growth until today? Was it such a linear growth and then reached a level
After reading this question about the origin of NaCl on Earth, I'm wondering: How did the amount of NaCl develop historically? Is it a more or less linear growth until today? Was it such a linear growth and then reached a level that it maintains until now? Or was that more complex over the billions of years of Earth's existence?
Hay, W.W., Migdisov, A., Balukhovsky, A.N., Wold, C.N., Flögel, S. and Söding, E., 2006. Evaporites and the salinity of the ocean during the Phanerozoic: Implications for climate, ocean circulation and life. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 240(1-2), pp.3-46.
As this graph shows, it is not linear at all and actually decreasing since the end of the Precambrian. This is a result of many factors including changing volume of ocean water, and the global chloride cycle. The details are all described in that paper.