Robbie James on Clubhouse

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The salt comes from weathering and volcanic activity. The ocean formed very early on in Earth history, as soon as water comes into contact with rock then weathering processes start – these leach (dissolve) the soluble elements preferentially out of the rock (sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium etc). There isn’t very much chlorine or sulphur in rocks but there is lots in volcanic gases and it readily dissolves in water in the atmosphere to form chloride and sulphate that rains into the ocean. If these processes go on for billions of years we get a salty ocean.
Where evaporation outweighs precipitation, surface seawater will become more salty. Local seawater salinity is also enhanced if there aren’t many rivers nearby, and/or if the basin is restricted, as the high salinity seawater can’t mix very well with seawater of normal salinity in this case. The Red Sea is a good example and has an average salinity of 40. Eventually high salinity water from restricted basins does escape and enter global circulation. Higher and lower salinity waters are still recognisable a long way from their source due to slow ocean mixing.
The reason river water is fresh is also due to evaporation. When water evaporates from the ocean surface, the salts don’t evaporate with it. It’s this freshwater that eventually ends up in rivers. That’s why we end up with a totally different balance of salts in rivers and the ocean.