Our assignment this week is to find a mineral. With one of the biggest mineral deposits in my back yard, I took my dog and went on a field trip to visit the Great Salt Lake. The Great Salt Lake is the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere. The lake is fed by the Jordan, Bear, and Weber Rivers but lacks a outlet river so the only outlet is evaporation. The evaporation leaves behind it's high mineral content.
Below is sample of Halite that I found at the lake. Some of the properties of this mineral would be: it has a cubical crystal structure and has a salty taste. Halite, or commonly known as salt, is naturally occurring in nature and is a solid substance. Halite has a streak color of white and a hardness level of 2.5, so you can scratch it with just a fingernail.
Below is a sample of Halite on display at the Natural History Museum of Utah
No comments:
Post a Comment