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35 million year old crater water twice as salty as ocean

Water in a 35 million year old impact crater off the Atlantic coast of North America has been found to be twice as salty as ocean water, according to a US Geological Survey published in the journal, Nature.

The water has been found to be leftover seawater from the Early Cretaceous Period. The research suggests that the North Atlantic’s transition from a closed rift basin to an open ocean caused a drop in salt levels.

The study analysed the crater water and found its salinity to be twice as high as that of current ocean water. Researchers originally thought that evaporation cause high salt concentrations. It is now believed that the expansion of the sea caused this.

Read more at US Geological Survey (USGS)

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