Go on. Lick it.
https://twitter.com/geologytime/status/1327251565850324993
Searles Lake is a major industrial source of evaporate minerals. Brine is pumped into shallow ponds, where desert sun evaporates water & leaves behind baby crystals to screen, harvest, wash & dry.
The minerals grow so fast they hopper: outside expands before inside fills in.
The minerals grow so fast they hopper: outside expands before inside fills in.
Searles Lake produces a whole bunch of halites and borates: halite, borax, selenite, ulexite (tv rock), as well as some weirder minerals like searlesite.
The pink cubical minerals are halite: table salt! Not only is it safe & tasty to lick, it’s essential for your health.
The pink cubical minerals are halite: table salt! Not only is it safe & tasty to lick, it’s essential for your health.
Hoppering fascinates me because we don’t think of mineral growth as particularly fast.
It keeps the characteristic crystal structure (halite: cubes), but electrical attraction is stronger on edges than center so it “steals” more material for growth, leaving insides shortchanged.
It keeps the characteristic crystal structure (halite: cubes), but electrical attraction is stronger on edges than center so it “steals” more material for growth, leaving insides shortchanged.
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