Witherite
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Witherite is a barium carbonate mineral, BaCO3, in the aragonite group. [1] Witherite crystallizes in the orthorhombic system and virtually always is twinned.[2] The mineral is colorless, milky white, grey, pale yellow, to pale brown. The specific gravity is 4.3, which is high for a non-metallic mineral. It fluoresces light blue under both long and short-wave UV and is phosphorescent under short-wave UV light.[3]
Witherite forms in low temperature hydrothermal environments. It is commonly associated with fluorite, celestine, galena, barite, calcite and aragonite. Witherite occurrences include: Cave-in-rock, Illinois, USA; Alston Moor, Anglezarke, Cumberland and Durham, England; Thunder Bay area, Ontario, Canada and Germany.
Witherite was named for William Withering (1741-1799) an English physician and naturalist.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Witherite mindat.org
- ^ BaCO3 (Witherite)
- ^ The Mineral Witherite Mineral Galleries
- ^ General Witherite Information Webmineral.com
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