- Witherite
Witherite is a
barium carbonate mineral, BaCO3, in thearagonite group. [http://www.mindat.org/min-4299.html Witherite] mindat.org] Witherite crystallizes in theorthorhombic system and virtually always is twinned. The mineral is colorless, milky white, grey, pale yellow, green, to pale brown. Thespecific 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. [http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/carbonat/witherit/witherit.htm The Mineral Witherite] Mineral Galleries]Witherite forms in low temperature
hydrothermal environments. It is commonly associated withfluorite , celestine,galena ,barite ,calcite andaragonite . Witherite occurrences include:Cave-in-Rock, Illinois , USA;Alston Moor ,Anglezarke , Cumberland andDurham ,England ; Thunder Bay area,Ontario ,Canada andGermany .Witherite was named for
William Withering (1741-1799) an English physician and naturalist. [http://webmineral.com/data/Witherite.shtml General Witherite Information] Webmineral.com]ee also
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List of minerals
*List of minerals named after people References
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