Crystals are usually bipyramids or thick tabular crystals. Sulfur is the ninth most abundant element in Earth's crust. Besides its native form, it occurs as a constituent of many common minerals. Sulfur is an ingredient in many things, including medicines, plastics, soaps, explosives, insecticides, paints, paper, rubber and fertilizers. More than 80 percent of its commercial employment is in the manufacture of sulfuric acid, which is used by almost every industry, from petroleum refining to cosmetics.
Sulfur occurs in many places around the world.
A major producer is the Gulf Coast area of Texas and Louisiana. There the sulfur occurs as part of the cap rock of salt domes, huge pillars of salt that have risen from the depths like toothpaste squeezed from a tube. Where the sulfur is near the surface, it can be mined by conventional techniques. In other areas, it is obtained by the Frasch process. In this method, a well is drilled to the sulfur deposit and three nested pipes are installed.