bariet

Bariet is a hypothetical mineral created for instructional purposes in geology and mineralogy. It is not a real mineral species recognized by major reference works and does not correspond to any confirmed natural sample.

In the standard educational description, bariet is dense and usually appears as translucent crystals with a vitreous to glistening luster. The color may range from colorless to pale blue or green, and crystals are described as tabular to prismatic, often forming in elongated aggregates. On the Mohs scale, its hardness is given as about 5, and it has a relatively high specific gravity, approximately 4.0–4.5. Cleavage is described as minimal or absent in the model, and fractures are typically conchoidal.

Composition and formation are conceptual; bariet is presented as having a framework-type structure with a dominant heavy cation and allowing substitutional impurities. Variations explain color changes and slight property differences used in teaching exercises.

Discovery and usage: Bariet was introduced in educational materials in the late 20th century as a tool for teaching mineral description, nomenclature, and identification techniques. No natural specimens are known.

In practice, bariet serves to illustrate how measured properties (luster, color, hardness, density) relate to classifying minerals, and it is often cited in problem sets on mineral identification and petrology.