The role of extreme halophilic bacteria in precipitation of salt

Natural salt ooids were studied principally through SEM imagery and compared to halite particles obtained in the laboratory by bacterial mediation under controlled conditions. Salt precipitation is induced and oriented by the growth of bacterial colonies. The main bacterial processes involved are the multiplication of cells and the regulation of their internal salt concentration which tends to oversaturate the closely neighbouring environment. Such microbiological processes play a significant role in the quality of marketed solar salt.