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.
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/
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This web document created in 2002 by Vince Cronin
