What makes the ocean water so salty?
The ocean’s salt content comes from minerals in soil and rock which have been dissolved in water. The water is continuously recycled through the hydrologic cycle (evaporation, condensation, precipitation, runoff); and as it does so it leaches more minerals from soil and rock and carries them to the ocean. Meanwhile, the dissolved minerals do not evaporate; instead, they have accumulated in the oceans over billions of years, and the oceans will continue to grow saltier in the future.
