Kieserite commonly occurs in marine evaporites and rarely in volcanic environments as a sublimate.

It occurs in association with halite, carnallite, polyhalite, anhydrite, boracite, sulfoborite, leonite, epsomite and celestine.

Kieserite might also be a rock-forming mineral in the icy mantle of the outer three Galilean moons (Europa, Ganymede, Callisto).

[6] It is used in the production of Epsom salt and as a fertilizer, the overall global annual usage in agriculture in the mid 1970s was 2.3 million tons.

[7] Kieserite is also used for cleaning hard water deposits from tiles, stones, and other pool and fountain lining materials.