What it is
Rock salt. Deforms plastically under pressure, which is why it rises into domes and traps oil against their flanks.
Materials that come from it
Cement
Powdered limestone and clay cooked at 1,450 C, which sets hard when mixed with water — the glue that holds concrete…
Potash
Potassium salts mined from ancient dried-up seas — the K in NPK fertiliser, which plants need to move water and…
Salt
Sodium chloride — the seasoning on a table, and the feedstock for the chlorine and caustic soda that most of the…