What is the connection between ocean salinity remaining nearly constant for billions of years and the water cycle?

Correct answer: There is a dynamic balance between salt inputs and salt removal through deposition and other processes

Correct answer: B. The water cycle moves water through evaporation, atmospheric transport, precipitation, runoff, and groundwater flow. Evaporation from the ocean removes mainly water, not dissolved salts, so rivers and groundwater can deliver dissolved ions to the sea. At the same time, salts are removed or stored by processes such as mineral precipitation, burial in marine sediments, exchange with seafloor materials, and biological incorporation. Over long periods, inputs and outputs can approach a dynamic balance, keeping average ocean salinity relatively stable even though local salinity changes with evaporation, rainfall, river discharge, and ice formation or melting. A is wrong because salt inputs have not completely stopped. C incorrectly treats dissolved salt as volatile. D is far too small and simplistic as a global explanation. Memory cue: water evaporates easily; dissolved salt generally remains behind.