Halite is the naturally occurring form of common table salt and is easily identified by its distinct salty taste and cubic cleavage. It typically forms in evaporite environments where ancient seas or lakes have dried up, often appearing as clear, white, or tinted cubic crystals. Collectors should store halite in a dry environment as it is highly hygroscopic and will dissolve or degrade in humid conditions.
Is this halite?
5-step field checkRun through these checks against the specimen in your hand. The more boxes tick, the more confident the ID.
- 1Test the hardnessTry to scratch halite with a known reference. Halite sits at Mohs 2-2.5, softer than the next harder reference, harder than the previous one.
- 2Check the streakDrag the specimen across an unglazed porcelain plate. Streak: white.
- 3Read the lusterHold the specimen under a strong light. Luster: vitreous.
- 4Match the color rangeCompare against the expected color range: colorless, white, blue, red, orange, yellow, clear, light blue, dark blue, pink.
- 5Look at form & habitCrystal system: cubic. Typical habit: crystalline, euhedral crystals, granular.
Often confused with
Halite vs. its common look-alikes, and how to tell them apart in the field.
Often found alongside halite
Minerals reported to co-occur with halite. Spotting these in float or country rock is a strong cue you are in the right ground.
All properties
- Chemical formula
- NaCl
- Mohs hardness
- 2-2.5
- Density
- 2.168 g/cm³
- Streak
- White
- Luster
- Vitreous
- Transparency
- Transparent
- Crystal system
- Cubic
- Crystal habit
- Crystalline, euhedral crystals, granular
- Cleavage
- {001}, perfect
- Fluorescence
- Red under SW and LW UV
- Rarity
- Common
- Uses
- Industrial, Collector, Culinary
- Host rock
- Typically in sedimentary rocks of evaporite association, may form immense beds; also as volcanic sublimates, efflorescences, cave deposits
Where rockhounds find halite
19 mapped spotsClassic worldwide localities
- Michigan Basin, underlying Ohio, Michigan, New York, USA
- Permian Basin of Texas, New Mexico, USA
- Potash Corporation of America mine, Carlsbad potash district, Eddy Co., New Mexico, USA
- Hallstadt, Salzburg, and Hall, near Innsbruck, Tirol, Austria
- Bex, Vaud, Switzerland
- Stassfurt-Leopoldshall, 34 km south of Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
U.S. states with halite
Each link opens a state-specific list of mapped rockhounding spots that produce halite.
Field-hunting tip
Where it forms: Typically in sedimentary rocks of evaporite association, may form immense beds; also as volcanic sublimates, efflorescences, cave deposits. If you start seeing sylvite, polyhalite, kieserite in float, you are in the right ground. Typical habit: crystalline, euhedral crystals, granular. Train your eye for that shape before scanning the outcrop. In the U.S., the densest reported localities are in Utah, California, Nevada. Start trip planning there.
More halite photos
Common questions
How do you identify halite?+
Where is halite found?+
Can I find halite in the United States?+
What rocks look like halite?+
What minerals are found with halite?+
What kind of rock does halite form in?+
What is halite used for?+
Find halite on the map
RockHoundR shows mapped rockhounding spots, access rules, and lets you log every find.
