page_title: Mineral
section_title: Halides
hierarchical_section_title: Mineral / Classification / Non-silicates / Halides
caption_attribution_description: English: Halite, Nahcolite Locality: Searles Lake, San Bernardino County, California, USA (Locality at mindat.org) Okay, halite is salt, but for one thing, it is just as legitimate a mineral as any other, even if you CAN eat it (not this though - it contains bacteria so don't lick it!). This batch of gorgeous halite specimens was mined recently in California, and they are REALLY distinctive. Look at the amazingly fine structure of the crystals and beautiful bright pink color! But more than that, they have this wonderful contrast with a uniquely new matrix covered with minute nahcolite. Bottom line: it is just a plain stunningly pretty mineral specimen from a recent find; I bought ALL OF THEM THAT WERE AVAILABLE from the one contact who brought them to a show last year in California (not Tucson ‘06 – this is from 2005). NOTE that they are sensitive to humidity. 8.5 x 7 x 4.2 cm Deutsch: Halit, Nahcolith Fundort: Searles Lake, San Bernardino County, Kalifornien, Vereinigte Staaten (Fundort bei mindat.org)
context_page_description: In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure, that occurs naturally in pure form.
  The geological definition of mineral normally excludes compounds that occur only in living beings. However some minerals are often biogenic or are organic compounds in the sense of chemistry. Moreover, living beings often synthesize inorganic minerals that also occur in rocks.
  The concept of mineral is distinct from rock, any bulk solid geologic material that is relatively homogeneous at a large enough scale. A rock may consist of one type of mineral, or may be an aggregate of two or more different types of minerals, spacially segregated into distinct phases.
  Some natural solid substances without a definite crystalline structure, such as opal or obsidian, are more properly called mineraloids. If a chemical compound may occur naturally with different crystal structures, each structure is considered a different mineral species. Thus, for example, quartz and stishovite are two different minerals consisting of the same compound, silicon dioxide.
context_section_description: The halide minerals are compounds in which a halogen (fluorine, chlorine, iodine, or bromine) is the main anion. These minerals tend to be soft, weak, brittle, and water-soluble. Common examples of halides include halite (NaCl, table salt), sylvite (KCl), fluorite (CaF₂). Halite and sylvite commonly form as evaporites, and can be dominant minerals in chemical sedimentary rocks. Cryolite, Na₃AlF₆, is a key mineral in the extraction of aluminium from bauxites; however, as the only significant occurrence at Ivittuut, Greenland, in a granitic pegmatite, was depleted, synthetic cryolite can be made from fluorite.
caption: Pink cubic halite (NaCl; halide class) crystals on a nahcolite matrix (NaHCO3; a carbonate, and mineral form of sodium bicarbonate, used as baking soda).
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