Liquid Water and the Earth

About two-thirds of the surface of the earth is covered by water. The water fills the deepest trenches on earth, which are an amazing 35,000 feet below sea level. Only the mountains and higher land masses extend above sea level. The amount of water in the ocean would cover the entire earth to a depth of about 8,000 feet if the surface of the earth were completely smooth.

Earth is unique among the planets of the solar system because it has liquid water at the surface. A small amount of water exists on a few of the other planets in either gaseous or frozen form, but only the earth has abundant liquid water. Water is a very unique substance. Humans and animals need water to survive. Plants need water to grow. The water in the ocean affects our weather and provides a home to billions of sea creatures. Many evolutionists insist that life began in the water.

Water on the earth is either fresh (in most lakes and rivers) or salty (in the seas, oceans, and some lakes). Why is the ocean salty? And was it always salty? The salt in the ocean is from minerals that wash into the ocean from streams and rivers. When water evaporates out of the ocean, the salt and minerals are left behind. The evaporated water then condenses and becomes freshwater rain.

Studies show that the ocean is becoming saltier every year. If the earth were 4.5 billion years old, as evolutionists claim, the ocean should be much saltier than it is now. Even evolutionary scientists admit that the oldest the oceans could be with the current rate of salt accumulation would be 62 million years.

Creationists also consider Noah’s Flood when they look at the ocean. This worldwide Flood added tons of minerals and sediment to the oceans. Considering the amount of salt it would have added, we can understand how the earth’s oceans could be only thousands of years old, as the Bible teaches. God created the oceans on Day 2 of Creation Week, about 6,000 years ago: “God . . . separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse” (Genesis 1:7).