Baryte, or
barite, (
BaBarium is a chemical element. It has the symbol Ba, atomic number 56, and is the fifth element in Group 2. Barium is a soft silvery metallic alkaline earth metal. It is never found in nature in its pure form due to its reactivity with air. Its oxide is historically known as baryta but it reacts...
SSulfur or sulphur is the chemical element that has the atomic number 16. It is denoted with the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Sulfur, in its native form, is a yellow crystalline solid. In nature, it can be found as the pure element and as sulfide and sulfate minerals...
OOxygen Oxygen Oxygen (acid, literally "sharp", from the taste of acids) and -γενής (-genēs) (producer, literally begetter) is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O...
4) is a
mineralA mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through geological processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. A rock, by comparison, is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids, and need not have a specific...
consisting of
barium sulfateBarium sulfate is a white crystalline solid with the chemical formula BaSO4. It is insoluble in water and other traditional solvents but is soluble in concentrated sulfuric acid. The mineral barite is composed largely of barium sulfate and is a common ore of barium...
. The
baryte group consists of baryte, celestine,
anglesiteAnglesite is a lead sulfate mineral, PbSO
4. It occurs as an oxidation product of primary lead sulfide ore, galena. Anglesite occurs as prismatic orthorhombic crystals and earthy masses, and is isomorphous with barite and celestine. It has a high specific gravity of 6.3 due to its lead...
and
anhydriteAnhydrite is a mineral - anhydrous calcium sulfate, CaSO
4. It is in the orthorhombic crystal system, with three directions of perfect cleavage parallel to the three planes of symmetry. It is not isomorphous with the orthorhombic barium and strontium sulfates, as might be expected from...
. Baryte itself is generally white or
colorColor or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...
less, and is the main source of
bariumBarium is a chemical element. It has the symbol Ba, atomic number 56, and is the fifth element in Group 2. Barium is a soft silvery metallic alkaline earth metal. It is never found in nature in its pure form due to its reactivity with air. Its oxide is historically known as baryta but it reacts...
. Baryte and celestine form a
solid solutionA solid solution is a solid-state solution of one or more solutes in a solvent. Such a mixture is considered a solution rather than a compound when the crystal structure of the solvent remains unchanged by addition of the solutes, and when the mixture remains in a single homogeneous phase.This...
(Ba,Sr)SO
4.
Names and history
The radiating form, sometimes referred to as
Bologna Stone, attained some notoriety among
alchemistsAlchemy is both a philosophy and a practice with an aim of achieving ultimate wisdom as well as immortality, involving the improvement of the alchemist as well as the making of several substances described as possessing unusual properties...
for the
phosphorescentPhosphorescence is a specific type of photoluminescence related to fluorescence. Unlike fluorescence, a phosphorescent material does not immediately re-emit the radiation it absorbs. The slower time scales of the re-emission are associated with "forbidden" energy state transitions in quantum...
specimens found in the 1600s near
BolognaBologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of northern Italy...
by Vincenzo Cascariolo.
The name baryte is derived from the
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
word
βαρύς (heavy). The
American spellingThis is one of a series of articles about the differences between American English and British English, which, for the purposes of these articles, are defined as follows:...
barite is used by USGS and more often used in modern
Scientific journalIn academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...
s including those published by the Netherlands-based
ElsevierElsevier, the world's largest publisher of medical and scientific literature, forms part of the Reed Elsevier group. Based in Amsterdam, the company has substantial operations in the United Kingdom, USA and elsewhere.-Origins:...
journals. The
International Mineralogical AssociationThe International Mineralogical Association is an international group of 38 national societies. The goal is to promote the science of mineralogy and to standardize the nomenclature of the 4000 plus known mineral species...
adopted "barite" as the official spelling when it formed in 1959, but recommended adopting the older "baryte" spelling in 1978, notably ignored by the
Mineralogical Society of AmericaThe Mineralogical Society of America is a scientific membership organization. MSA was founded in 1919 for the advancement of mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, and petrology, and promotion of their uses in other sciences, industry, and the arts...
. The
American Petroleum InstituteThe American Petroleum Institute, commonly referred to as API, is the main U.S trade association for the oil and natural gas industry, representing about 400 corporations involved in production, refinement, distribution, and many other aspects of the petroleum industry...
specification API 13/ISO 13500 which governs
baryte for drilling purposes does not refer to any specific mineral, but rather a material that meets that specification, in practice this is usually the mineral baryte.
The term "primary baryte" refers to the first marketable product, which includes crude baryte (run of mine) and the products of simple beneficiation methods, such as washing, jigging, heavy media separation, tabling, flotation, and magnetic separation. Most crude baryte requires some upgrading to minimum purity or density. Baryte that is used as an aggregate in a "heavy"
cementIn the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance which sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term "opus caementicium" to describe masonry which resembled concrete and was made from crushed...
is crushed and screened to a uniform size. Most baryte is ground to a small, uniform size before it is used as a filler or extender, an addition to industrial products, or a weighting agent in
petroleumPetroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds.The term "petroleum" was first used in the treatise De Natura Fossilium, published in...
well
drilling mud.
Other names
Baryte has gone by other names such as
barytine,
barytite,
schwerspath,
barytes,
Heavy Spar, or
tiff.
Mineral associations and locations
Baryte occurs in a large number of depositional environments, and is deposited through a large number of processes including biogenic, hydrothermal, and evaporation, among others. Baryte commonly occurs in lead-zinc veins in
limestoneLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite . The deposition of limestone strata is often a by-product and indicator of biological activity in the geologic record...
s, in hot spring deposits, and with
hematiteHematite, also spelled as hæmatite, is the mineral form of iron oxide , one of several iron oxides. Hematite crystallizes in the rhombohedral system, and it has the same crystal structure as ilmenite and corundum...
ore. It is often associated with the minerals
anglesiteAnglesite is a lead sulfate mineral, PbSO
4. It occurs as an oxidation product of primary lead sulfide ore, galena. Anglesite occurs as prismatic orthorhombic crystals and earthy masses, and is isomorphous with barite and celestine. It has a high specific gravity of 6.3 due to its lead...
and celestine. It has also been identified in meteorites.
Baryte has been found in locations in
Cheshire, ConnecticutCheshire is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 28,543 at the 2000 census. The center of population of Connecticut is located in Cheshire .- History :...
,
De Kalb, New YorkDe Kalb is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, USA. The population was 2,213 at the 2000 census. The town is named after American general Baron de Kalb, a German officer serving under George Washington....
, Fort Wallace, New Mexico as well as quarried in Arkansas, Connecticut, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Nevada, and Missouri in the USA. Outside of the USA, localities include
Baia Sprie, RomaniaBaia Sprie is a town in the Maramureş County, northern Romania. The Hungarian version of the town's name means "Upper Mine".There are four settlements under the same township's administration of Baia Sprie: the town proper and the villages of Chiuzbaia, Satu Nou de Sus and Tăuţii de Sus...
,
WestmorelandWestmoreland is a historic county in England. It may also refer to:-Places:Canada*Westmorland County, New BrunswickJamaica*Westmoreland, Jamaica, a parishUnited States...
,
Cornwell-People:* Bernard Cornwell, British historical novelist* Hugh Cornwell, English musician and songwriter, lead singer with The Stranglers* John Cornwell, English naval hero* John Cornwell , English journalist and historian...
,
CumberlandCumberland was a historic county of north west England, on the border with Scotland, from the twelfth century to 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
,
DerbyshireDerbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains...
, and
SurreySurrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford...
in the UK, China, India, Morocco, Peru, Chile, Liberia, Turkey, Ireland, Canada, Brazil, Greece, and
Barberton Mountain Land, South AfricaBarberton is a town in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa, which has its origin in the 1880s gold rush in the region. It is situated in the De Kaap Valley and is fringed by the Mkhonjwa Mountains...
Uses
Some 77% worldwide is used as a weighting agent for drilling fluids in oil and gas exploration. Other uses are in added-value applications which include the car, electronics, TV screen, rubber, and glass ceramics and paint industry, radiation shielding and medical applications (for example, a
barium mealA barium meal, also known as an upper gastrointestinal series is a procedure in which radiographs of the esophagus, stomach and duodenum are taken after barium sulfate is ingested by a patient...
before a contrast CAT scan). Baryte is supplied in a variety of forms and the price depends on the amount of processing; filler applications commanding higher prices following intense physical processing by grinding and micronising, and there are further premiums for whiteness and brightness and colour. Baryte is used in the manufacture of paints and paper.
Historically baryte was used for the production of
barium hydroxideBarium hydroxide is the chemical compound with the formula Ba2. Also known as baryta, it is one of the principal compounds of barium...
for sugar refining, and as a white
pigmentA pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which a material emits light.Many materials selectively absorb...
for textiles, paper, and paint.
Although baryte contains a "heavy" metal (barium), it is not considered to be a toxic chemical by most governments because of its extreme
insolubilitySolubility is the property of a solid, liquid, or gaseous chemical substance called solute to dissolve in a liquid solvent to form a homogeneous solution. The solubility of a substance strongly depends on the used solvent as well as on temperature and pressure...
.