Barite Data

Barite is a sulfate mineral.

Pronunciation: BEAR•ite (accent on capitalized syllable)

Color: ranges from colorless to creamy white to light blue, yellow, red

Luster: vitreous

Diaphaneity: transparent to translucent; may appear opaque in hand specimen

Hardness: 3-3.5

Specific gravity: 4.5 -- feels heavy

Cleavage/fracture: 1

Other distinguishing properties: Barite's high specific gravity is its most notable characteristic.

Specimen Pictures

References

Klein, C., and Hurlbut, C.S., Jr., 1999, Manual of Mineralogy (after James D. Dana) [21st edition, revised]: New York, John Wiley & Sons, 682 p.

Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, The Photo Atlas of Minerals: nhm.org/pam/

Return to the Minerals page.

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