What is the popular name for the mineral halite?

Rock salt is a sedimentary mineral consisting primarily of sodium chloride. The composition of impurities depends on the characteristics of the deposits. Why is it rock salt, and not just, for example, sodium or chloride? This name reflects the state of the mineral and human attitude towards it. In their natural state, these are truly salty stones. Then, after processing, halite, as this salt is also called, becomes just the former salty powder. It is in this form that it is called table salt.

Main characteristics of rock salt

The mineral halite received its scientific name in Ancient Greece. The translation of this word is ambiguous, but its meaning is two concepts – sea and salt. The chemical formula of rock salt is simple – it is NaCl as the main substance and other elements as impurities. Pure rock salt contains 61% chlorine and 39% sodium. In its pure form, this mineral can be:

• transparent;
• opaque but translucent;
• colorless or white with signs of glassy luster.

However, pure NaCl is rare in nature. Its deposits can have shades of colors:

• yellow and red (presence of iron oxide);
• dark – from brown to black (admixtures of decomposed organic matter, for example, humus);
• gray (clay impurities);
• blue and lilac (presence of potassium chloride).

Halite is fragile, hygroscopic and, of course, has a salty taste. The mineral dissolves well in water at any temperature, but melts only at high temperatures – not lower than 800°C. When fire melts, it turns yellow.

The crystalline structure of rock salt is a dense cube, the nodes of which contain negative chlorine ions. The octahedral voids between the chlorine atoms are filled with positively charged sodium ions. The structure of the crystal lattice is an example of ideal order – in it, each chlorine atom is surrounded by six sodium atoms, and each sodium atom is adjacent to the same number of chlorine ions.

Ideal cubic crystals in some deposits are replaced by octahedral ones. In salt lakes, crusts and druses can form at the bottom.

Origin of salt deposits

Rock salt is a mineral of exogenous origin. Salt deposits were formed during sedimentary processes in a dry and hot climate. The origin of salt deposits is associated with the slow drying of drainless salt lakes, sea bays and shallow waters.

Halite salt is formed in small quantities during soil salinization and during volcanic activity. Soil salinization occurs in arid regions. This process can develop under natural or anthropogenic conditions. Natural salinization occurs where groundwater with high salinity comes close to the surface. This water evaporates, and a salt crust forms on the soil surface. In addition, the soil can also become salinized from above, for example, during sea surges or tsunamis. In this case, a large amount of salty seawater penetrates into the lower horizons of the soil, and then evaporates, and salt is deposited on the surface.

A person contaminates the soil with abundant watering in arid climates. In regions where the evaporation of water from the lower layers of the soil collectively exceeds the influx of water through precipitation, the soil is highly mineralized. If you water it, evaporation also increases. As a result, minerals deposited in different soil layers come to the surface. On such soil a salt crust forms, preventing any manifestation of life.

According to its origin, rock salt is divided into the following categories:

• Self-sedimentary, which forms in evaporite basins, deposited as granular crusts and druses.
• Stone, lying in large layers between different rocks.
• Volcanic salt rock that is deposited in fumaroles, craters and lavas.
• Salt marshes, representing salt crusts on the soil surface in an arid climate.

Geography of main deposits

Halite is concentrated mainly in deposits of the Permian period. This was approximately 250-300 million years ago. At that time, a dry and hot climate formed almost everywhere in Eurasia and North America. Ponds of salt water quickly dried up, and the salt layers were gradually covered by other sedimentary rocks.

On the territory of Russia, the largest deposits of halite are located in the Urals (Solikamskoye and Iletskoye deposits), in Eastern Siberia near Irkutsk (Usolye-Sibirskoye deposit). Halite is mined on an industrial scale in the lower reaches of the Volga, as well as on the banks of the famous salt lake Baskunchak.

Significant halite deposits are located:

• in the Donetsk region (Artemovskoye field);
• in Crimea (Sivash region);
• in northern India in the state of Punjab;
• in the USA – the states of New Mexico, Louisiana, Kansas, Utah;
• in Iran – the Urmia field;
• in Poland – the Bochnia and Wieliczka salt mines;
• in Germany near Bernburg, where halite has blue and lilac shades;
• large salt lakes are located in western South America.

Uses of rock salt

No matter how much people criticize the use of rock salt in the food industry and in everyday life, people cannot do without this “white death”. These are not just mineral compounds, although the complex composition of rock salt in some deposits is highly valued in medicine. Salt dissolved in water or food is an increase in the number of ions, that is, positively and negatively charged particles that activate all processes occurring in the body.

However, halite has also found its use in the chemical industry. For example, the production of hydrochloric acid, sodium peroxide and other compounds that are in demand in various consumer sectors cannot be done without NaCl. The use of halite, in addition to its consumption as food, provides more than 10 different production processes and final consumption.

This mineral is still the most popular and cheapest preservative, helping people live from one harvest to another, transport food over long distances, and stock up on food for future use. Salt’s function as a preservative continues to save people from starvation around the world.

Nowadays, sodium chloride has become one of the cheapest food products. And once upon a time there were salt riots. Convoys with this product moved under heavy security. This product was part of soldiers’ rations. Perhaps the consonance between the words soldier and salt is not accidental.

Salt extraction methods

How is halite mined nowadays? Modern mining is carried out using several methods.

• Mass mining of large quantities of rock salt is carried out using the mining method, which involves extracting rock salt from sedimentary rocks. Since halite is a solid solid monolith, it must be softened at high temperature and under pressure. Special salt harvesters are used to raise salt to the surface.
• The vacuum method involves boiling minerals from water with a high level of dissolved salt concentration. To obtain brine, a well is drilled to reach the rock salt deposit. After this, clean fresh water is pumped into the subsoil. The mineral quickly dissolves in it, forming a saturated solution. After this, the brine is pumped to the surface. This is usually how salt is extracted for food and medical needs, since the brine does not contain impurities of other rocks.
• The lake method is based on the extraction of salt in open salt reservoirs. This method does not require the construction of boreholes or the construction of mines. However, the product obtained in this way requires careful cleaning, which affects the cost.
• The method of evaporating seawater has been practiced for about 2 years. It was popular in countries with dry and hot climates. To obtain salt from sea water, no energy sources were needed here, since the sun itself coped well with the process of evaporation of water. However, this process was very slow, so when there was a large concentration of people thirsting for salt, special heating was used.

The opposite of evaporation is a method practiced in regions with cold climates. The fact is that fresh water freezes faster than salt water. For this reason, the early ice in the vessel, when melted, was practically fresh water. In the remaining water, the concentration of salt increases. So from sea water it was possible to simultaneously obtain fresh water and saturated brine. Salt was boiled out of the water of the late ice quickly and with less energy consumption.

Nowadays, NaCl is a product that has become familiar. The use of sodium chloride in food is in the nature of bringing its taste to the state of sea water. This is a need for all organisms living on land.

Under a romantic name halite hidden is table salt, well known to everyone, used daily by almost every person when preparing food. The name of the mineral halite comes from αλς, which translates as sea salt. It is interesting that in Ancient Greece the word gallos had two meanings at the same time: salt and sea.

Halite belongs to a subclass of chlorides and is sodium chloride. The true color of the mineral is white, but admixtures of clay make it gray, hematite – red, metallic sodium – blue or yellow.

The hardness of halite on the Mohs scale is 2, density 2,2 g/cm 3 .

Place of Birth

Halite forms as a sediment after the evaporation of salt-containing water.

It is mined in many parts of the world; large deposits are located in Ukraine, in the Austrian city of Salzburg and German Strasbourg. Quite interesting specimens of the mineral are found in the mines of Polish Bochnia. In Russia, halite deposits are developed in the Lower Volga region, Donbass and Perm region. It is known for certain that there are mineral deposits at a depth of 1700 meters near Moscow.

Halite products and their prices

The most common use of halite is in so-called salt lamps. This is a natural ionizer that, when heated by a regular incandescent lamp, releases negative ions, purifying the air.

In the modern world, halite is very inexpensive, but there were times when, due to its rarity, it was valued higher than gold.

Magical properties

From time immemorial, salt was considered the strongest amulet against evil spells and the evil eye. There is a belief among soldiers that salt wards off death in battle. Even in ancient Russian epics, they talked about how heroes, going to fight in foreign lands, took with them a handful of their native land mixed with salt.

Salt, like water, has its own unique memory, which makes it an ideal material for a conspiracy. Such salt, charmed for positive phenomena (love, success, happiness, etc.) and wrapped in natural fabric, will be a wonderful amulet. The only rule that must be strictly followed when dealing with a salt amulet is: always keep it with you and never tell anyone about it.

Medicinal properties

Everyone knows from childhood that a warm water-salt solution is the first remedy in the fight against toothache. It is used only with the addition of soda and iodine to gargle for colds. Hot halite in linen bags is applied to joints affected by radiculitis to relieve pain. The same remedy is used to remove boils and boils.

Interesting fact

In 1648, a popular uprising broke out in Rus’, which received the name “salt riot” in history. One of the reasons for the unrest that flared up in Moscow at that time was the tax on salt introduced by the government headed by boyar Morozov. The unrest, which lasted for several days, led to the abolition of the salt tax, as well as other rather strange taxes, and the exile of Morozov, who, however, was soon returned back to Moscow. Then Siberia, Pomorie, Kursk, and Yelets also became infected with the rebellious spirit. By 1650, a wave of uprisings reached Pskov and Novgorod.

In 1726, Vitus Bering established a salt production plant in Okhotsk, where the mineral was extracted from sea water by freezing. The salt plant, built on the Pacific coast by Bering’s followers, successfully existed for over a hundred years. The most expensive type of salt today is vacuum salt. Vacuum salt is salt that has been subjected to special treatment to prevent the product from being affected by extraneous factors.

Signs of the zodiac

The only planet with which halite has a connection is the earth, and this connection, close, inextricable, is similar to the connection between a person and his own heart! Salt amulets are equally recommended for wearing by all zodiac signs.

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