Monday, May 28, 2012

Nearing the End

Why is it that nearing the end of something (the quarter) always seems to make time fly?  For instance, when you're running late for a meeting and you're rushing but still can't get everything done on time.  To the contrary, when there's absolutely nothing to do time doesn't seem to move quick enough.  I guess if I had to choose, I'd rather be super busy then bored--so here's what I'm keeping myself busy with.
Pink Himalayan Salt


As I was reading the back of a research book the other day it hit me that salt is the only rock that we eat.  I will not deny that I didn't fully trust this little epiphany and started to dive into the idea of all of the types of rocks that I have seen in my 23 years (well, of course not all of them!).  After about half an hour of googling different rocks and gemstones I found this random strike of thought to be true.  Then I got to thinking of all of the forms and colors that salt "comes in."  If you think about it, salt "comes in" a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors much like articles of clothing or the fruit from the market, we just don't think beyond the most common form in which we see it--the table salt that has been cleaned and refined to perfection.

River runoff into the ocean
Just as a recap, salt is the only dietary mineral that all forms of human and animal life need in order to survive.  The primary method of producing salt that I have been looking into is through evaporation marshes and ponds from ocean water/the Bay.  It's a relatively common misconception that salt is directly within the ocean water but geologically speaking, only the ingredients for salt are mixed within ocean water and not salt as a whole.  I'm no scientist but I'm going to try to break this down as easily as I can so please bear with me!  Here it goes---The sea gets matter from two sources: 1) streams/rivers/other water sources and 2) oceanic volcano activity.  The streams/etc. provide sodium ions while the volcano's provide chloride ions and these two are lifelong friends but when H2O comes into play they are still separate minerals.  As H2O is eliminated through precipitation sodium and chloride become one and make halite (the fancy-shmancy word for salt).  Then when we taste salt on our tongues the two minerals instantly dissolve into separates again.  This little explanation reminds me of all those little life cycle or water cycle diagrams in grade school--can't quite decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Salt Mines
Another method of obtaining salt is through digging in salt mines.  This method is considered to be a form of deep-shaft mining where salt already exists in the ancient underground seabeds.  In this method, miners systematically blast through the underground walls of salt and collect what is crushed.  They use a conveyer belt to take the minerals out from underground were most of what is collected is produced as rock salt.

Though methods of salt production are advancing there are always going to be some drawbacks of working in the industry; the production of salt, no mater the method, is going to be labor intensive and will often take quite a while.  I look forward to researching their advances in the future.  

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for sharing your research about salt in this blog. To be honest, I had never thought much about it until now. I was also surprised that salt is the only rock that we eat!! You have also given me another site to visit this summer- the shoreline interpretive center! Good luck with your project over the upcoming year. I always think it is fascinating how history can be brought to life on any subject matter, even the production of salt!

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