Monday Geology Picture: Salt Lamp

Our Himalayan salt lamp, illuminating our living room at night. — My beautiful Himalayan salt lamp, illuminating our living room at night.

Although I haven’t yet featured such a gift on my annual What to Buy a Geologist for Christmas list, some of my wonderful relatives recently bought me a rock lamp for Christmas. Specifically, they bought me a pink colored Himalayan salt lamp. The lamp consists of a large crystal of salt, or sodium chloride, that is mounted on a pretty wooden stand. The lamp provides a lovely, soft, pale pink light. We turn the lamp on every evening to illuminate our living room, and we sometimes leave the lamp on overnight as a night light.

I absolutely love my salt crystal lamp. I mean, what’s not to love? It’s a rock that’s also a lamp, and that in and of itself is awesome. I really like the look of the lamp and its soft light. I even find looking at the lamp somewhat peaceful. It’s nice to have such a beautiful object in our living room.

All that said, unlike many people I do not believe that my salt crystal lamp has any healing powers… or that it has any substantial health benefits at all. Despite what many people say on the internet and elsewhere, Himalayan salt lamps do not emit significant quantities of ions, nor any sort of other magical “positive energy waves”. Most (probably all) of the supposed health benefits of Himalayan salt lamps are absolute rubbish. I say that as a geologist and not a medical professional, but several people agree with me – for example, see here and here. As someone with geochemical expertise, I can attest that Himalayan salt lamps are certainly not emitting special streams of ions. That is, they’re not emitting any special ions nor high quantities of ions – and turning the lamp on or off won’t significantly impact how many ions the salt crystal in your lamp releases.

At most, my salt crystal lamp slightly decreases my stress level by being a beautiful object to look at. And, really, isn’t that enough?

Monday Geology Picture: Pink Pan

Apologies for the recent gap in my blogging. I’ve been busy travelling for work, and our home internet connection was not working for a couple of weeks. We’ve also been suffering from regular power outages here in South Africa.

Anyway, to make up for my recent quietness, I’m sharing a spectacular picture for this week’s “Monday Geology Picture” post. This picture was taken close to the border between South Africa and Namibia near the town of Oranjemund and shows a salt pan that is called “Pink Pan” by locals. The Orange River is in the background of the picture. I took this picture through an airplane window when I was flying from Oranjemund to Windhoek earlier this month.

Monday Geology Picture: Salt Flat Reflections in Death Valley

Salt Flat Mirror, Badwater Basin, Death Valley, California, Fall 2005.

Well, I still haven’t had time to write up a substantial blog post. I spent this past weekend writing my thesis, wrapping Christmas gifts (how can it possibly be Christmas next weekend?), writing Christmas cards (and wedding thank-you cards! Finally!), and spending some time with my husband, who arrived home unexpectedly yesterday. He’s been at sea on a sampling campaign, but there’s some trouble with the ship, so he’s home early… and in time for Christmas! Although it makes my husband’s job more stressful, I must say I’m not too dismayed that his ship is having troubles. Even if I have to keep working on my thesis, my husband can at least bring me some Christmas dinner. Also, I’m sending him to the post office today to mail all those Christmas gifts and cards.

Anyway, my poor blog has been neglected once again. However, as promised, here’s the inaugural Monday Geology Picture, which was inspired by last week’s geology pictures. Even when other obligations keep me from blogging regularly over the next few months, I’ll do my best to post this weekly geology picture.

This week’s picture is from the Badwater Basin in Death Valley, California. The Badwater Basin has very little rainfall and contains vast salt flats. In the picture above, a bright white salt flat acts like a mirror, reflecting the landscape. Notably, the Badwater Basin contains the lowest point in North America: 282 feet (82 m) below sea level.