Also spelled baryte.
Physical Properties |
|
| Chemical formula | BaSO4 |
| Class | Sulfate |
| Crystal system | Orthorhombic |
| Habit | Variable Tabular “Barite rose” “Desert rose” “Crested barite” Massive concretions Veins |
| Color | White Gray Colorless |
| Hardness | 3 to 3.5 |
| Specific gravity | 4.5 |
| Cleavage | Perfect (001), good (010) and {210} |
| Fracture | Uneven |
| Luster | Vitreous Pearly |
| Transparency | Transparent to translucent |
| Streak | White |
Optical Properties |
|
| PPL | Colorless |
| XPL | Up to 2nd order yellow |
| δ | 0.012 |
| after Perkins, 393 |
Barite in Hand Sample
Barite
Whitish, radiating barite with reddish quartz and purplish-blackish botryoidal hematite on quartzite
Barite horizon in Mapepe Formation, Fig Tree Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa (hand sample)
Barite horizon in Mapepe Formation, Fig Tree Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa (outcrop)
Barite in Thin Section
Stay tuned for explorable images!
