barite

Scope note: The most common barium mineral, barium sulfate (BaSO4), occurring in hydrothermal ore veins containing lead and silver, in sedimentary rocks such as limestone, in clay deposits formed by the weathering of limestone, in marine deposits, and in cavities in igneous rock in Spain, Germany, and in the southern Appalachian, central states, and California in the United States. It commonly forms as large tubular crystals, as rosettelike aggregates of those crystals, or as divergent plates known as crested barite. It is abundant. Ground barite is used in oil and gas well drilling muds, in the preparation of barium compounds, as a body or filler for paper, cloth, and phonograph records, as a base for white pigment, and as an inert body in colored paints.

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