Experimental investigation have been made to study the double-diffusive nature of convection of an initially stratified salt-water solution heated from below in a cylindrical cavity. The objective is to examine the process of mixed-layer formation, the flow phenomena, the heat transfer characteristics, and temperature and concentration distribution according to the changes in the effective Rayleigh number based on the reference height which represents the relation of temperature and concentration gradient. The types of initially formed flow pattern are categorized in three regimes depending on the effective Rayleigh number ; stagnant flow regime, single mixed-layer flow regime and successively formed multiple mixed-layer flow regime. The temperature and concentration profiles are both uniform in each layer due to convective mixing in the layered flow regime, but both linear in stagnant flow regime and single mixed-layer flow regime. At the interface between adjacent layers, the temperature changes smoothly but the concentration changes rapidly. The layers expand by diffusion of concentration through the interface along with its random fluctuation.