English: Rock salt (sedimentary halitite) from the Permian of Ukraine. (4.8 cm across at its widest)

This is halitite, also called rock salt. As the name suggests, it is entirely composed of halite (NaCl - sodium chloride). Halitite is the most common type of evaporite, a crystalline-textured, chemical sedimentary rock formed by the evaporation of water (usually seawater), and the precipitation of dissolved minerals. Most halitites are clear to whitish to grayish. This sample is from Ukraine's Soledar Salt Mine District. Historically, salt was obtained in this area by evaporating water from natural salty lakes at the surface. Later, high-purity salt was obtained by underground mining and leaching from wells. Subsurface mine tunnels are huge - some are open to tourists. Soledar-area salt mines have targeted three thick halitite horizons in the Lower Permian Slavyanska Group. Each salt interval is about 30 to 40 meters thick. The succession also includes other evaporites (rock gypsum and rock anhydrite), carbonates, and fine-grained siliciclastics.

Stratigraphy: probably derived from the Bryantsevsky Bed or the Under-Bryantsevsky Bed (these are also spelled "Bryantsevsk"), Slavyanska Group, Lower Permian

Locality: Soledar Salt Mine District (possibly derived from Artemsol's Mine 1 or 3), north-northeast of the town of Artemivsk, eastern Ukraine

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Some info. from:

Bosevska, L.P. & A. Chowdhury. 2018. Labile technogenic geological system of the flooded Shevchenko Salt Mine (Ukraine). Journal of Geology, Geography and Geoecology 27: 184-201.