Halite

Natural sodium chloride (also named rocksalt; water-soluble). Occurs both as evaporite deposits in saline lakes and watercourses, or as bedded sedimentary deposits, or as salt domes. Experimental volcanic gas condensation by Africano et al. (2002) shown halite to be the predominant sublimate in the 450-550oC range. Recent studies show nanosized halite to be the second phase after aragonite that may primarily be deposited in a coral skeleton (Motai et al., 2016). Acording to Calas et al. (2021) the blue colour comes from metal Na nanoparticles, 2.5–3 nm in diameter. Similar nanoparticles impart red colour to villiaumite.

Structural context

Halite
Crystal System isometricCrystal Class hexoctahedralSpace Group Fm-3m
a5.4533—12.235 (5.879)
b5.4533—7.073 (5.7271)
c5.4533—9.298 (5.7926)
alpha90
beta90—116.31 (90.7738)
gamma90
volume162.173—721.279 (199.7789)

Based on 34 measurements

Chemical context

Stoichiometric formulas

Halite
mindat.org
  • March 13, 2023NaCl
IMA
  • March 13, 2023NaCl
mineralogy.rocks
  • Aug. 30, 2022NaCl

Elements recorded on EPMA

31
Cl
31
Na
1
Ca
1
O
1
Si

Physical properties

ColorColor entities, recognized using a custom trained NER model
  • colourless
  • whitish
          Color noteOriginal color note from the source
          Colourless, whitish, yellow, red, purple or blue
          StreakStreak entities, recognized using a custom trained NER model
            Streak noteOriginal streak note from the source
            White
            Lustre
            Vitreous
            Fracture
            Conchoidal
            Transparency
            Transparent
            Translucent
            Tenacity
            brittle
            Hardness
            2.5
            Calculated density
            2.165