[Halite] has a salty taste and dissolves easily in water. It also is [transparent] to [translucent] and has a glassy luster. This mineral is soft enough for a copper penny to scratch it. Halite commonly occurs as cubic crystals and as [granular] or compact masses.
In addition to its use as table [salt], much [halite] goes to make soda ash, chlorine, and other chemicals. A few of its other uses are in leather making, meat packing, and food canning.
Texas has large underground deposits of [halite]. These deposits, known as [rock salt], occur in the [Permian] subsurface basin of west Texas and in the [salt] domes of the [Gulf Coastal Plain]. The Permian basin, which extends under parts of west Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Kansas, is now completely filled with [sediments]. It appears level and flat when you travel across it and does not look at all like a basin or a valley. During Permian time, however, this area was covered by a salty sea. As the sea gradually dried up, the dissolved material that it contained was deposited as thick beds of halite, [anhydrite], and other minerals. Later, these minerals were covered by [sedimentary rocks] which were deposited on top of them. Now, the minerals are found many hundreds of feet below the surface. In Hutchinson, Mitchell, Ward, and Yoakum counties, some of this Permian basin salt has been produced (as brine) from wells that have been drilled into it.
[Salt] domes, which are huge, underground columns of [halite], occur on the [Gulf Coastal Plain].
The [Gulf Coastal Plain] [salt] domes are huge and almost circular columns of [halite], some of which are more than 2 miles wide. Some are less than 300 feet below the surface, but most of them are much deeper. These salt columns pushed upward many thousands of feet from great, deeply buried salt deposits. The halite is mined from shafts dug into the Hockley salt dome in Harris County and into the Grand Saline salt dome in Van Zandt County. Salt brines are produced from wells drilled into several salt domes of this area.
At the surface in Texas, [halite] occurs in [salt] lakes in Crane and Hudspeth counties and in alkali lakes on the [High Plains]. It is found also on the shores of bays and lagoons in Cameron, Kenedy, Kleberg, and Willacy counties, and it occurs at springs and seepages in various places in the State.
Hematite
[Hematite], iron oxide, the chief ore of iron, is found in many places in Texas but not in large deposits. This mineral may have a metallic luster and appear reddish brown, dark brown, steel gray, or black or it may occur as a soft, red, earth-like material called red ocher.
