Salt domes (hills) and salt glaciers (dark areas) in the Zagros Mountains of southern Iran.

A salt glacier is a flow of salt (typically halite) that is created when a rising diapir in a salt dome breaches the surface, much like toothpaste from a tube. Gravity causes the salt to flow like glaciers into adjacent valleys. The resulting tongue-shaped bodies can extend for kilometers, with repeating bow-shaped ridges separated by crevasse-like gullies and with steep sides and fronts. Clays may be brought up with the salt, turning it dark. The Zagros Mountains are Irans second largest range in terms of area covered. ... A magnified crystal of a salt (halite/sodium chloride) In chemistry, a salt is any ionic compound composed of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions, so that the product is neutral and without a net charge. ... Halite is the mineral form of sodium chloride, NaCl, commonly known as rock salt. ... Pluton redirects here. ... A salt dome is formed when a thick bed of evaporite minerals (mainly salt, or halite) found at depth intrudes vertically into surrounding rock strata, forming a diapir. ... Modern toothpaste gel Toothpaste is a paste or gel used to clean and improve the aesthetic appearance and health of teeth. ...

References

• Iran's Salt Glaciers. NASA Earth Observatory. URL accessed on 2006-04-27.

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