If water flowing over continents in rivers is what concentrates salt in our ocean, would a planet that has always been covered in water just be freshwater? The water is just sitting there, not eroding through salts.
If water flowing over continents in rivers is what concentrates salt in our ocean, would a planet that has always been covered in water just be freshwater? The water is just sitting there, not eroding through salts.
If salts were present when the water froze, the salts would still be there. If the ice is pure water but you can’t microscopically brush away all the salts during thawing, can fresh water be extracted?
In freeze desalination, the initial ice crystals before it freezes solid are pure water; you mostly freeze a volume of saltwater into slush, strain out the ice, and discard the liquid (which will be brine; higher in salt than your initial water).
Probably not super efficient, and probably needs multiple steps, but I dunno. Somewhere where the ambient temperature is below freezing, but geothermal is available, it could work at scale, but if you have to refrigerate, you’re probably better off with regular distillation