76 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI STUDIES 



Most men at the present time believe that many metallic de- 

 posits are more or less directly related to igneous rocks ; the non- 

 metallic deposits are still commonly thought to have been concen- 

 trated by meteoric waters. Barite deposits belong in the latter 

 class. Essentially all who have studied them have advocated 

 their concentration by meteoric waters. Lindgren includes the 

 barite deposits in two different divisions in his "Mineral De- 

 posits." One type he puts with those deposits which are concen- 

 trations from surrounding rocks. Here he places most of the 

 economically valuable deposits. Before taking up the evidence of 

 such an origin, it will be worth while to summarize briefly the 

 prevalent views as to the origin of barite deposits. 



Professor T. L. Watson^ has given much time to the study 

 of the barite deposits of the Appalachian region from Virginia to 

 Georgia. He recognizes the residual type of the surface clays; 

 and below, veins and replacements, often of large size. He con- 

 cludes that the barite has originated by the concentration of the 

 barium salts from the surrounding rocks. Various sulfides are 

 found with the barite and in some instances are sufficiently 

 abundant to mine, while the barite is not saved. All are thought 

 to have been derived from the adjacent rocks. 



Hayes and Phelan^ concluded that the deposits at Carter- 

 ville, Georgia, were concentrated from the limestone. Stose^ is 

 of the same opinion as to the origin of the barite at Waynesboro, 

 Pennsylvania. C. H. Warren* describes the barite deposits at 

 Five Islands, Nova Scotia, and concludes that they are due to so- 

 lutions which obtained their barium from the surrounding, and at 

 one time, overlying rocks. 



Winslow and Buckley both concluded that the barite in Mis- 

 souri was concentrated by descending waters which gathered the 

 barium from the dolomite and limestone of the area. Ball and 

 Smith^ believe that the lead and zinc deposits of Miller County, 

 Missouri, are due to descending solutions which obtained the 



Watson, T. L., Mineral Resources of Virginia, pp. 305-327. 1907. 

 'Hayes and Phelan, Bull. 340, U. S. G. S., p. 458, 1908. 

 'Stose, G. W., Bull. 225, U. S. G. S., p. 515. 

 'Warren, C. H., Econ. Geol., vol. 6, pp. 799-807. 1911. 

 'Ball and Smith, "Geology of Miller County, Missouri," vol. 1, pp. 

 148-188. 1907. 



