Whats Halite and its purpose?

Question

Ok i have this weird assignment where i have to write an obituary on a sedimentary rock. i chose halite. now the teacher says it has to start from how it was born (like how its created) then going on to what it did on earth and then it being melted back into magma ( its death) lol its a pretty strange assignment and its due this thursday and i know that i have a little while but i would like to study for my upcoming exams aswell. Please help me its kind urgent.

thanks, have a great day!

Answer 1

Halite is a mineral in the form of Sodium Cholride. It is also known as Rock Salt.

If you l**k it, it will test very salty! Chemical sediments: precipitated from water. Halite (salt) is an example of a chemical rock.

Halite occurs in vast beds of sedimentary evaporite minerals that result from the drying up of enclosed lakes, playas, and seas.

The cities of Cleveland and Detroit rest above huge halite deposits that are mined for road salt.

When rocks are pushed deep under the Earth's surface, they may melt into magma. Basically, the rock which includes halite gets melted into magma. The burial of the sediment increases the pressure and temperature of the rock and they begin to cook. "Cooked" rocks are called metamorphic rocks. It is all part of the rock cycle.

Answer 2

Let me correct some of the above statements:

1) Halite is sodium chloride in mineral form - it is salt. You can mine it and put it on your food.  You can also use it to melt snow.

2) The real purpose of halite is in the oil industry. Because it is very light compared to other rocks, and is somewhat plastic under pressure, when it is buried it tends to rise to the surface. It is also not permable, such that oil will collect under it and get trapped.

In the gulf coast region, most oil deposits are associated with halite structures. These are called salt domes, and currently this is really the most important use of halite.

3) Halite does not typically form magmas, and it typically does not form from magmas. Instead, the rock is formed by crystallization in salty seas such as (currently) the Dead Sea and The Great Salt Lake. As these shallow lakes evaporate, the halite is left behind. You can make halite yourself by boiling water with salt in it. The white stuff that remains after the water is gone is mostly halite and limestone - two minerals fromed from dissolved solids in the water you have boiled. I can't say I'd recommend this too much as limestone is not all that soluble and is a bit difficult to clean off of things.

4) Halite is very soluble in water. The typical way that the rock is destroyed is with exposure to water. Other sedimentary rocks - namely shale (from clay) and sandstone are much denser and when they are on plate boundaries they will undergo metamorphic processes and may get deep enough to form magmas. Halite, however, rarely does this because it is so light.

Answer 3

Halite forms from salt lakes or inland seas that dry out or precipitate on the bottom when the salt becomes too concentrated to stay in solution.  forming a layer of hardened rock salt.  The rock salt in time will get covered with other sediment such as mud, sand, or organic material, dead sea creatures etc.  and as it gets deeper and deeper the weight of the rocks above start to squeeze the halite into what are known as salt domes, which are like bubbles in the sedimentary rock and tend to work their way upward.  Often petroleum collects under these and using seismic detection methods they often yield oil.  Eventually these embedded rocks are either melted as magma or (more likely) dissolved by rising steam (since halite is soluble in water).  In rock layers that are lifted up in orogenies they are exposed to the surface and the salt from the deposits is returned to the oceans or salt lakes by dissolving in water and running back into the oceans.