Africa Rock Salt Atlas is the continental section of the World Rock Salt Atlas examining natural halite deposits, rock-salt mines, bedded evaporite systems and salt diapirs across Africa by country and site.
Where Is Rock Salt Found in Africa?
African rock-salt geology does not belong to a single system. In North Africa, Triassic evaporites and salt diapirs related to the ancient Tethyan realm are prominent, while East Africa contains very young but hundreds-of-metres-thick rock-salt successions in the Afar-Danakil Rift.
Morocco is also one of the clearest present-day commercial examples on the continent because of its large-scale active rock-salt production.
Distinguishing Rock Salt from Salt Lakes
Africa contains Etosha, Makgadikgadi and numerous coastal or inland salt pans. Modern surface salt crusts and solar evaporation sites, however, are not the same as geological rock-salt deposits.
This atlas covers only sites where a natural halite mass occurs as geological rock or where official records identify the material being mined directly as “rock salt.”
Rock Salt in Morocco
USGS mineral statistics for Morocco for 2024 estimate the country’s rock-salt production at approximately 570,000 tonnes. Société de Sel de Mohammedia, near Mohammedia, is among the country’s known major rock-salt producers.
Danakil Rock Salt in Ethiopia
The Danakil Depression is one of the world’s most unusual active evaporite basins. A modern 625-metre scientific drill core showed that approximately 60 percent of the succession consists of halite.
For 2024, USGS estimates Ethiopia’s rock-salt production at approximately 450,000 tonnes.
Tunisian Salt Diapirs
Triassic evaporites in northern and central Tunisia have undergone intense halokinesis. In some areas, halite- and gypsum-rich masses form salt domes, diapirs, salt walls and allochthonous salt sheets.
First Africa Files
- Morocco Rock Salt Deposits
- Mohammedia Rock Salt Mine
- Ethiopia Rock Salt Deposits
- Danakil Rock Salt Deposit
- Tunisia Rock Salt and Triassic Salt Diapirs
Continuation of African Research
Future Africa packages will add Algeria, Namibia, Eritrea and other countries only where genuine rock salt or halite deposits can be supported by strong geological evidence.
The presence of solar salt production alone is not sufficient for inclusion in the rock-salt atlas.
Primary Sources
- USGS – Mineral Industry of Morocco, 2024
- USGS – Mineral Industry of Ethiopia, 2024
- Sedimentology – Danakil Thick Evaporite Deposits
- Journal of African Earth Sciences – Tunisian Triassic Halite Diapirs