Editing Halite (section)

== Occurrence ==
[[File:Halite-249324.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Halite cubes from the Stassfurt Potash Deposit, [[Saxony-Anhalt]], Germany (size: 6.7 × 1.9 × 1.7 cm)]]
Halite dominantly occurs within sedimentary rocks where it has formed from the evaporation of seawater or salty lake water. Vast beds of [[sedimentary]] evaporite minerals, including halite, can result from the drying up of [[endorheic|enclosed]] lakes and restricted seas. Such salt beds may be hundreds of meters thick and underlie broad areas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=halite {{!}} mineral |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/halite |access-date=2022-04-22 |website=Britannica  |language=en}}</ref> Halite occurs at the surface today in [[Dry lake|playas]] in regions where evaporation exceeds precipitation such as in the salt flats of [[Badwater Basin]] in [[Death Valley National Park]].

In the [[United States]] and [[Canada]], extensive underground beds extend from the [[Appalachian Basin]] of western [[New York (state)|New York]] through parts of [[Ontario]] and under much of the [[Michigan Basin]]. Other deposits are in [[Ohio]], [[Kansas]], [[New Mexico]], [[Nova Scotia]] and [[Saskatchewan]]. Deposits can also be found near [[Dasol]], [[Pangasinan]], [[Philippines]]{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}. The [[Khewra Salt Mines|Khewra salt mine]] is a massive deposit of halite near [[Islamabad]], Pakistan. 

[[Salt dome]]s are vertical [[diapir]]s or pipe-like masses of salt that have been essentially "squeezed up" from underlying salt beds by mobilization due to the weight of the overlying rock. Salt domes contain [[anhydrite]], [[gypsum]], and native [[sulfur]], in addition to halite and [[sylvite]]. They are common along the [[Gulf of Mexico|Gulf coasts]] of [[Texas]] and [[Louisiana]] and are often associated with [[petroleum]] deposits. [[Germany]], [[Spain]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Denmark]], [[Romania]] and [[Iran]] also have salt domes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is a Salt Dome? How do they form? |url=https://geology.com/stories/13/salt-domes/ |access-date=2022-04-22 |website=geology.com}}</ref> [[Salt glacier]]s exist in arid Iran where the salt has broken through the surface at high elevation and flows downhill.  In these cases, halite is said to be behaving like a [[rheid]].

Unusual, purple, fibrous vein-filling halite is found in [[France]] and a few other localities. Halite crystals termed ''hopper crystals'' appear to be "skeletons" of the typical cubes, with the edges present and stairstep depressions on, or rather in, each crystal face. In a rapidly crystallizing environment, the edges of the cubes simply grow faster than the centers. Halite crystals form very quickly in some rapidly evaporating lakes resulting in modern artifacts with a coating or encrustation of halite crystals.<ref name="Halite">{{cite web |url=http://www.galleries.com/Halite |title=HALITE (Sodium Chloride) |publisher=Galleries.com |access-date=2015-12-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151216011838/http://www.galleries.com/Halite |archive-date=2015-12-16 }}</ref> ''Halite flowers'' are rare [[stalactite]]s of curling fibers of halite that are found in certain arid caves of [[Australia]]'s [[Nullarbor Plain]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wales |first=University Of New South |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CxwDSfpMq2oC&dq=halite+flowers&pg=PA81 |title=Beneath the Surface: A Natural History of Australian Caves |date=2003 |publisher=UNSW Press |isbn=978-0-86840-595-7 |language=en}}</ref> Halite stalactites and encrustations are also reported in the Quincy [[native copper]] mine of [[Hancock, Michigan]].