Halite

Object/Artifact

-

Crater Rock Museum

Name/Title

Halite

Entry/Object ID

2014.1.6

Description

Chemical Composition: Al(OH)3 Crystal System: Hexagonal System Description: Common Name: Halite Chemistry: NaCl Group: Halides Location: Searles Lake, California Description: Small specimen with mutiple pseudo-hexagonal and tabular crystals. Physical Charateristics: •Color is white, colorless or yellow; rarely blue. Hematite inclusions may color specimens reddish. •Luster is vitreous to greasy, resinous or dull. •Transparency: Crystals are transparent to translucent. •Crystal System is orthorhombic; 2/m 2/m 2/m. •Crystal Habits are typically granular and massive, sometimes fibrous. Individual crystals are rare, but when seen are pseudo-hexagonal and tabular. •Cleavage is absent. •Fracture is conchoidal. •Hardness is 2.5 •Specific Gravity is approximately 1.6 (light even for translucent minerals). •Streak is white. •Other Characteristics: Bitter taste, deliquescent (meaning it can absorb water from the air), fluorescent and can color a flame violet (due to potassium). •Associated Minerals include halite, anhydrite, dolomite, gypsum, kainite, kieserite, polyhalite, sylvite and other more rare potassium evaporite minerals. •Notable Occurrences include Carlsbad, New Mexico; Western Texas; Colorado and Utah, USA; Strassfurt, Germany; Ural Mountains, Russia; Iran; China; Tunisia; Spain; Mali; Ukraine and Saskatchewan, Canada. •Best Field Indicators are environment of formation, lack of cleavage, associations, density, deliquescence, fracture and taste. Hardness: 7 Quartz Rock Type: Sedimentary

Collection

RAGM Mineral Collection

Acquisition

Accession

2014.1

Source or Donor

Crater Rock Museum (unknown donors)

Acquisition Method

Gift

Dimensions

Height

3-1/4 in

Width

1 in

Length

2-1/4 in

Location

Location

Shelf

CS-I-1

Room

Curation Storage

Building

Crater Rock Museum

Category

Storage

Moved By

Curtis Gardner

Date

May 25, 2023

Notes

Added current location