Rock & Mineral Encyclopedia

Search and identify 1,000+ rocks, minerals, crystals, and gemstones — with properties, formation, colors, hardness, and how to tell them apart.

Halite

The natural mineral form of table salt, a soft, water-soluble evaporite that forms perfect cubic crystals and tastes salty.

An evaporite rock of the mineral halite (sodium chloride), the source of common salt, with a distinctive salty taste.

A coarse-grained, speckled intrusive rock built from quartz, feldspar, and mica, forming the bedrock of the continents.