1. The Mediterranean Sea Lab
Where does the water go?

2. The Mediterranean Basin
Black Sea
France
Italy
Greece
Spain
Turkey
Atlantic Ocean
Mediterranean Sea
Israel
Morocco
Algeria
Libya
Egypt
Nile and Red Sea

3. Clean up instructions DO YOUR BEST NOT TO SPILL ANYTHING!!!
Carefully pour your salt water into the salt water return bins in the back.
Bring the tape and the instructions back up to the cart.
Toss the dam in the trash.
Rinse all other materials well and return them to your bin.
Wipe up any spills on your table.

4. The Mediterranean Basin
Black Sea
Atlantic Ocean
Mediterranean Sea

5. Making Connections

6. The Mediterranean Basin
Black Sea
Surface Current
Saltier Water
Atlantic Ocean
Underwater Current
Mediterranean Sea
The warm climate of the Mediterranean causes more evaporation and leaves more salt behind. The saltier water sinks and goes into the Atlantic on the bottom of the Strait of Gibraltar.

7. Bonneville Salt Flats (Utah)
The Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah were created when an inland (salty) sea with no outlet evaporated away. The salt is left behind and has created a very large flat area.

8. The Great Salt Flat of B-14
Saltwater
The water evaporates leaving the salt behind

9. The Salt Flats are an ideal area to race the fastest cars since it is flat and there is nothing significant to crash into.
Thrust SSC
First Supersonic Car
763 mph
October, 1997
Wikipedia

10. You might recognize the salt flats from movies that were filmed there.

11. In the wetter season, new water can bring even more salt and evaporate leaving behind cool patterns in the salt.

12. Why are the oceans salty?
As the water precipitates onto the land the water dissolves salts and minerals from the rocks. The salt and minerals travel with the run off and eventually wind up in the ocean.
As you can see by the demonstration table, water can evaporate into the air (atmosphere) but salts and minerals cannot and so are left behind. In this case left in the ocean.
This process occurs over and over making the oceans salty.

13. Great Salt Lake (Utah)
The Great Salt Lake has no outlet so the only way the water has to go is up. This makes the lake incredibly salty.

14. Dead Sea (in Jordan near the Mediterranean)
The Dead Sea also has no outlet. These bodies of water are so salty that very few salt loving organisms can live here, but nothing else (Dead Sea).