Rock salt is the common name for halite. It is a rock, rather than a mineral, and this is what makes it different to the salt you may find on your dinner table, although they do share many characteristics.

Is salt a type of rock?

Rock salt is the name of a sedimentary rock that consists almost entirely of halite, a mineral composed of sodium chloride, NaCl. ... People have mined rock salt or produced salt by evaporation for thousands of years.

Is edible salt a rock?

Edible salt, also called table salt or just salt, is a mineral, one of a very few rocks commonly eaten by humans. There are different forms of edible salt: unrefined salt, refined salt, table salt or iodised salt. ... Edible rock salts may be slightly greyish in colour due to this mineral content.