Halite

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Rock salt" redirects here. For edible coarse salt, see Kosher salt. For the cubic crystal structure known as the "rock-salt" structure, see Cubic crystal system § Rock-salt structure.
For other uses, see Halite (disambiguation).
Halite
Specific gravity
2.17
Optical propertiesIsotropic
Refractive indexn = 1.544
Melting point800.7 °C
SolubilityWater-soluble
Other characteristicsSalty flavor, fluorescent
References[3][4][5][6]

Halite (

impurities, and structural or isotopic abnormalities in the crystals.[11] It commonly occurs with other evaporite deposit minerals such as several of the sulfates, halides, and borates. The name halite is derived from the Ancient Greek word for "salt", ἅλς (háls).[3]

Occurrence

Halite cubes from the Stassfurt Potash Deposit, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany (size: 6.7 × 1.9 × 1.7 cm)

Halite dominantly occurs within sedimentary rocks where it has formed from the evaporation of seawater or salty lake water. Vast beds of

enclosed lakes and restricted seas. Such salt beds may be hundreds of meters thick and underlie broad areas.[12] Halite occurs at the surface today in playas in regions where evaporation exceeds precipitation such as in the salt flats of Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park
.

In the

Khewra salt mine is a massive deposit of halite near Islamabad
, Pakistan.

Salt domes are vertical diapirs or pipe-like masses of salt that have been essentially "squeezed up" from underlying salt beds by mobilization due to the weight of the overlying rock. Salt domes contain anhydrite, gypsum, and native sulfur, in addition to halite and sylvite. They are common along the Gulf coasts of Texas and Louisiana and are often associated with petroleum deposits. Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Romania and Iran also have salt domes.[13] Salt glaciers exist in arid Iran where the salt has broken through the surface at high elevation and flows downhill. In these cases, halite is said to be behaving like a rheid.

Unusual, purple, fibrous vein-filling halite is found in France and a few other localities. Halite crystals termed hopper crystals appear to be "skeletons" of the typical cubes, with the edges present and stairstep depressions on, or rather in, each crystal face. In a rapidly crystallizing environment, the edges of the cubes simply grow faster than the centers. Halite crystals form very quickly in some rapidly evaporating lakes resulting in modern artifacts with a coating or encrustation of halite crystals.[14] Halite flowers are rare stalactites of curling fibers of halite that are found in certain arid caves of Australia's Nullarbor Plain.[15] Halite stalactites and encrustations are also reported in the Quincy native copper mine of Hancock, Michigan.

Mining

The world's largest underground salt mine is the Sifto Salt Mine. It produces over 7 million tons of rock salt per year using the room and pillar mining method. It is located half a kilometre under Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada.[16] In the United Kingdom there are three mines; the largest of these is at Winsford in Cheshire, producing, on average, one million tonnes of salt per year.

Uses

Salt is used extensively in cooking as a flavor enhancer, and to cure a wide variety of foods such as bacon and fish.[17] It is frequently used in food preservation methods across various cultures. Larger pieces can be ground in a salt mill or dusted over food from a shaker as finishing salt.

Halite is also often used both residentially and municipally for managing ice. Because

salt brine is more effective than spreading dry salt because moisture is necessary for the freezing-point depression to work and wet salt sticks to the roads better. Otherwise the salt can be wiped away by traffic.[18]

In addition to de-icing, rock salt is occasionally used in agriculture. An example of this would be inducing salt stress to suppress the growth of annual meadow grass in turf production. Other examples involve exposing weeds to salt water to dehydrate and kill them preventing them from affecting other plants. Salt is also used as a household cleaning product. Its coarse nature allows for its use in various cleaning scenarios including grease/oil removal, stain removal, dries out and hardens sticky spills for an easier clean.[citation needed]

Some cultures, especially in Africa and Brazil, prefer a wide variety of different rock salts for different dishes. Pure salt is avoided as particular colors of salt indicates the presence of different impurities. Many recipes call for particular kinds of rock salt, and imported pure salt often has impurities added to adapt to local tastes.

Judges 9:45: "he killed the people in it, pulled the wall down and sowed the site with salt."[20]

Polyhalite, a mineral fertilizer, is not an NaCl-polymer, but hydrated sulfate of potassium, calcium and magnesium (K2Ca2Mg-sulfate).

Shotgun shells containing rock salt (instead of metal pellets) are a less lethal deterrent.[21]

  • Unusual halite crystals from Faiyum, Egypt
    Unusual halite crystals from Faiyum, Egypt
  • Hopper crystal cast of halite in a Jurassic rock, Carmel Formation, Utah
    Hopper crystal cast of halite in a Jurassic rock, Carmel Formation, Utah
  • Sharp halite crystals that have this green color from inclusions of malachite
    Sharp halite crystals that have this green color from inclusions of malachite
  • Large natural crystal of halite, showing cubic crystal form
    Large natural crystal of halite, showing cubic crystal form
  • Pink color halite on a matrix covered with minute nahcolite
    Pink color halite on a matrix covered with minute nahcolite
  • Halite from Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Mine in Rocanville, Saskatchewan, Canada
    Halite from
    Rocanville, Saskatchewan
    , Canada
  • Pebbles made of halite from the western Dead Sea coast, Israel
    Pebbles made of halite from the western Dead Sea coast, Israel

See also

References

  1. S2CID 235729616
    .
  2. ^ a b Geology.com: Halite
  3. ^ a b "Halite" (PDF). Handbook of Mineralogy. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 28, 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  4. ^ "Halite". Mindat.org. Archived from the original on 2011-08-05.
  5. ^ "Halite". Webmineral. Archived from the original on 2004-11-24.
  6. ISBN 978-1439855119
    .
  7. ^ "halite". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
  8. ^ "halite". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
  9. Random House Unabridged Dictionary. 1997. Archived from the original
    on 2015-10-02.
  10. ISBN 978-0-7566-9042-7
    .
  11. doi:10.1016/0037-0738(94)00093-A
    .
  12. ^ "halite | mineral". Britannica. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  13. ^ "What is a Salt Dome? How do they form?". geology.com. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  14. ^ "HALITE (Sodium Chloride)". Galleries.com. Archived from the original on 2015-12-16. Retrieved 2015-12-16.
  15. ISBN 978-0-86840-595-7
    .
  16. ^ "Where is the World's Largest Underground Salt Mine". 14 November 2018. Archived from the original on 2020-07-08. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  17. ISBN 978-1-58008-262-4
    .
  18. ISBN 978-0965231008. Archived
    from the original on 2020-09-13. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  19. ISBN 9780786243891
    .
  20. ^ "Bible: Judges 9:45". Bible Hub. Archived from the original on October 30, 2018. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  21. ^ "Less Lethal Loadout: Rock Salt Shotgun Shells". 15 September 2020.
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