Editing Gaia hypothesis (section)

===Regulation of oceanic salinity===
Ocean [[salinity]] has been constant at about 3.5% for a very long time.<ref name="Segar-2012">{{Cite book|title=The Introduction to Ocean Sciences|last=Segar|first=Douglas|publisher=Library of Congress|year=2012|isbn=978-0-9857859-0-1|url=http://www.reefimages.com/oceans/SegarOcean3Chap05.pdf|pages=Chapter 5 3rd Edition|access-date=2017-02-05|archive-date=2016-03-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325060308/http://www.reefimages.com/oceans/SegarOcean3Chap05.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Salinity stability in oceanic environments is important as most cells require a rather constant salinity and do not generally tolerate values above 5%. The constant ocean salinity was a long-standing mystery, because no process counterbalancing the salt influx from rivers was known. Recently it was suggested<ref name="Gorham19912">{{cite journal|last=Gorham|first=Eville|date=1 January 1991|title=Biogeochemistry: its origins and development |journal=Biogeochemistry|publisher=Kluwer Academic|volume=13|issue=3|pages=199–239|doi=10.1007/BF00002942|s2cid=128563314|issn=1573-515X}}</ref> that salinity may also be strongly influenced by [[seawater]] circulation through hot [[basalt]]ic rocks, and emerging as hot water vents on [[mid-ocean ridge]]s. However, the composition of seawater is far from equilibrium, and it is difficult to explain this fact without the influence of organic processes. One suggested explanation lies in the formation of salt plains throughout Earth's history. It is hypothesized that these are created by bacterial colonies that fix ions and heavy metals during their life processes.<ref name="Segar-2012" />

In the biogeochemical processes of Earth, sources and sinks are the movement of elements. The composition of salt ions within our oceans and seas is: sodium (Na<sup>+</sup>), chlorine (Cl<sup>−</sup>), sulfate (SO<sub>4</sub><sup>2−</sup>), magnesium (Mg<sup>2+</sup>), calcium (Ca<sup>2+</sup>) and potassium (K<sup>+</sup>). The elements that comprise salinity do not readily change and are a conservative property of seawater.<ref name="Segar-2012" /> There are many mechanisms that change salinity from a particulate form to a dissolved form and back. Considering the metallic composition of iron sources across a multifaceted grid of thermomagnetic design, not only would the movement of elements hypothetically help restructure the movement of ions, electrons, and the like, but would also potentially and inexplicably assist in balancing the magnetic bodies of the Earth's geomagnetic field. The known sources of sodium i.e. salts are when weathering, erosion, and dissolution of rocks are transported into rivers and deposited into the oceans.

The [[Mediterranean Sea]] as being Gaia's kidney is found ([http://scimar.icm.csic.es/scimar/index.php/secId/6/IdArt/209/ here]) by [[Kenneth Hsu|Kenneth J. Hsu]], a correspondence author in 2001. Hsu suggests the "[[desiccation]]" of the Mediterranean is evidence of a functioning Gaia "kidney". In this and earlier suggested cases, it is plate movements and physics, not biology, which performs the regulation. Earlier "kidney functions" were performed during the "[[Deposition (geology)|deposition]] of the [[Cretaceous]] ([[Atlantic Ocean|South Atlantic]]), [[Jurassic]] ([[Gulf of Mexico]]), [[Permian–Triassic extinction event|Permo-Triassic]] ([[Europe]]), [[Devonian]] ([[Canada]]), and [[Cambrian]]/[[Precambrian]] ([[Gondwana]]) saline giants."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://scimar.icm.csic.es/scimar/index.php/secId/6/IdArt/209/|title=Scientia Marina: List of Issues|website=scimar.icm.csic.es|language=en|access-date=2017-02-04}}</ref>