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Download hereGENERAL DESCRIPTION
Barite is a barium sulphate. It is a frequent species in the hydrothermal veins of low temperature. It is associated to galena, fluorite, quartz, dolomite and many sulphides.
It is often crystallized; the crystals are tabular, long and thick, more rarely lengthened along the prisms. They can be colourless, white, yellow, brown, and even blue-green. The barite has a high density because of the barium that it contains.
Its deposits having given good crystals are numerous: Paraiba in Brazil (crystals aggregates in flowers of 8 cm); the mine Candy Rock in Canada (golden tabular crystals of 10 cms); the Herminia mine in Peru (lamellate crystals of more than 25 cm). Very beautiful crystals come from the United Kingdom and Germany.
France is also particularly favoured: the Côte d’Abot (partially gemmeous crystals of 15 cm) and veins of Pontgibaud in Puy-de-Dôme; the mine of Les Farges in Corrèze, the mine of Chaillac in Indre and many other deposits on the whole of the French territory.
Did you know? Barite is intensively used for paper and oil industries: the barium which it contains is very employed for drilling oil pits. Its other uses are industry of glass and ceramics, white paintings and in certain plastics. Type: the location of conservation of the type of this species is unknown.
HISTORY : Name inspired from the Greek word "βαρυσ" [barys] meaning heavy. In reference to its high density
Species first described in 1800 by Dietrich Ludwig Gustav Karsten (1768-1810), German matematician
Type-locality: undefined because species already known from the Ancients
ANCIENT NAME : Baryte
CHEMICAL FORMULA : Ba SO4
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Orthorhombic
COLOR : Colorless, brown, blue, green, reddish yellow
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to opaque
LUSTER : Vitreous to resineous
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGIE : Tabular crystals, prismatic. As roses, massive, lamellar, stalactitic
HARDNESS : 3,0-3,5
CHEMICAL CLASS: 4,47
DENSITY : VI - Sulfates, chromates, tungstates and molybdates
GROUP : Barytine
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 6/A.09-20
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 7.AD.35
