Because of its extreme salinity, salt used in the Himalayan region can be very abrasive. Thats why it is often used in saltwater fishing, where the sharp edges of the rocks used in weighing a particular type of fish can cause heavy abrasions in clothing. Also, being one of the most common kinds of salt on earth, it is also very easily affected by atmospheric conditions. When clouds or rain showers enter the area, the cloudy, silty crystals fall into the ground and quickly crystallize, forming what we know as salt.
Salt crystal growth does not always happen in a straight line, though. Sometimes it may go from above, through the crystals that make up the salt and down to the water. This process is called hydrothermalization, and it happens naturally in the oceanic areas, and even in lakes and the sea. This process creates sulfuric minerals, which are the actual ingredients of salt.
Pink Himalayan salt is one of the most popular natural substances in the world. It has been used for cooking and for baking since early times. The Egyptians used it in their pottery, the Greeks had little choice but to use it as an ingredient in food and wine, and the Romans used it in their dishes as well. These days Himalayan pink salt is often used in the kitchen, because it has many of the same qualities of table salt, yet is much less expensive than the latter.
One result of the hydrothermalization process is the formation of salts. These salt-like compounds are then found in the earth and are referred to as precious minerals. Himalayan pink salt is one of the most famous examples of such mineral formations. It is also one of the rarest types of salt.
Before the advent of photography, people had to rely on fancy microscopes to study precious hydrothermal salt. Modern, digital microscope and software programs are available to scientists to make such observations. In fact, there are some software programs that will actually give you back-project images of crystal growth and patterns, so you can see for yourself how the crystal forms, and where it is in relation to other crystals.
It is believed that such minerals are formed when organic matter becomes reduced. In this case, the organic matter is actually the rock salt. In the process of hydrothermal reduction, the rock salt is at the very bottom of the ocean, much deeper than the surface of the ocean. As organic matter becomes reduced, it is forced up through the rock layers and gets locked into the rock salt. This is the first step in forming crystals.
If you are wondering how these crystals form, they form when the rock salt is subjected to heat and pressure. The crystals cool down from a liquid state to solid, and the rock salt begins to crack. Then, there is pressure from below, which forces the rock salt into the crystals. From there, the process repeats itself over again.
One theory is that Himalayan pink salt, when it is exposed to air, crystallizes in a manner similar to limestone. However, it has been observed that the crystals cannot crystallize on stones which are highly acidic, because the crystals tend to dissolve in those environments.
Another hypothesis for the formation of Himalayan pink salt is that the minerals grow as a result of rocks cooling and settling out of the riverbeds, where they are exposed to constant changes in temperature. The fact that salt crystals are extremely brittle has led some researchers to believe that they are formed as a result of stress. Other researchers believe that the crystals are formed as a result of the crystallization process, with the mixture of rock salt and air.
A final explanation for the formation of Himalayan pink salt is that it grows when solutes accumulate, causing the presence of dissolved gases to dissolve in the rock salt. The formation of the crystals is a result of mineral-rich water holding a higher concentration of dissolved gases, which are dissolved in the water, leading to its crystallization. The emergence of a precipitate within the rock salt crystals is the result of ions binding together.
