Materials

Halite

Also Known As Rock Salt

Mineral

Citation Formats

General Reference

Earth and Environment Atlas. "Halite." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://earth.interactiveatlas.org/materials/halite.

APA Style

Earth and Environment Atlas. (n.d.). Halite. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://earth.interactiveatlas.org/materials/halite

BibTeX

@misc{earthandenvironmentatlas-halite,
  author = {Earth and Environment Atlas},
  title = {Halite},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://earth.interactiveatlas.org/materials/halite},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The mineral form of sodium chloride, commonly known as rock salt. It forms isometric crystals, typically colorless or white but tinted blue, purple, pink, red, orange, yellow or gray by inclusions and impurities, and it occurs with other evaporite minerals wherever ancient seas dried away. Its name comes from the Ancient Greek word for salt.

Facts

Kind

Mineral 1

Formation Class

Evaporite (commonly occurs with other evaporite deposit minerals such as sulfates, halides and borates) 1

Chemical Formula

NaCl 1

Hardness (Mohs)

2.5 1

Commonly cited range is 2.0 to 2.5 on the Mohs scale; 2.5 is used here.

Cross-Tradition Connections

In Discipline

Mineralogy

Source Halite (Wikipedia)

Sources

1. Halite (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia FoundationLead section

Quote, Lead section

Halite, commonly known as rock salt

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1. Halite (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia FoundationInfobox

Quote, Infobox

Mohs scale hardness: 2.0-2.5

View the Source

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