Name/Title
HaliteEntry/Object ID
2009.62.221Description
Chemical Composition: NaCl
Crystal System: Cubic or Isometric S
Description: Common Name: Halite
Chemistry: NaCl, Sodium Chloride
Group: Halides
Location: Searles Lake, CA.
DESCRIPTION: Large specimen with 1/2 - 1" pink crystals.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Color is clear or white but can be found blue, purple, pink, yellow and gray.
Luster is vitreous.
Transparency: Crystals are transparent to translucent.
Crystal System is isometric; 4/m bar 3 2/m
Crystal Habits are predominantly cubes and in massive sedimentary beds, but also granular, fibrous and compact. Some crystals show a crystal type called a hopper crystal discribed above.
Cleavage is perfect in three directions forming cubes.
Fracture is conchoidal.
Hardness is 2
Specific Gravity is 2.1+ (light)
Streak is white.
Associated Minerals include other evaporite deposit minerals such as several sulfates, halides and borates.
Other Characteristics: Salty taste.
Best Field Indicators are taste, cleavage and crystal habit.
Fracture: conchoidal
Hardness: 2 Gypsum
Luster: Vitreous
Occurrence: Halite occurs in vast beds of sedimentary evaporite minerals that result from the drying up of enclosed lakes, playas, and seas. Salt beds may be hundreds of meters thick and underlie broad areas. In the United States and Canada extensive underground beds extend from the Appalachian basin of western New York through parts of Ontario and under much of the Michigan Basin. Other deposits are in Ohio, Kansas, New Mexico, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan. The Khewra salt mine is a massive deposit of halite near Islamabad, Pakistan. In the United Kingdom there are three mines; the largest of these is at Winsford in Cheshire producing half a million tonnes on average in six months.
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 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, Romania and Iran also have salt domes. Salt glaciers exist in arid Iran where the salt has broken through the surface at high elevation and flows downhill. In all of these cases, halite is said to be behaving in the manner of a rheid.
Rock Type: Sedimentary
Specific Gravity: 2.1+
Streak: white
Variety: 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. Halite flowers are rare stalactites of curling fibers of halite that are found in certain arid caves of Australia's Nullarbor Plain. Halite stalactites and encrustations are also reported in the Quincy native copper mine of Hancock, Michigan.Collection
RAGM Mineral CollectionAcquisition
Accession
2009.62Source or Donor
Museum Collection of MineralsAcquisition Method
DonationDimensions
Width
13 inDepth
12 inLength
24 inLocation
Location
Display Case
FS-16Room
Frieda Smith HallBuilding
Crater Rock MuseumCategory
PermanentMoved By
Curtis GardnerDate
May 25, 2023Notes
Added current location
