Name:

diopside

A photo of the mineral diopside

Class:

Silicates

Chemistry:

CaMg(Si2O6) calcium magnesium silicate

Color(s):

green, yellow, bronze, blue to violet, and sometimes clear.

Hardness:

5 - 6.5

SpecGrav:

3.22 - 3.4

Fracture:

uneven

Cleavage:

complete

Crystal:

monoclinic short columnar, tabular, often twinning

Envronment:

contact metamorphics, marbles, and in calcium silicates.

Association:

wollastonite, grossular garnets, chlorite, calcite, magnetite, mica

Locals:

| Calif., Montana, USA | Sweden | Canada | Germany | India |USSR | Switzerland |

Misc:

The name is from the Greek meaning "two views", referencing its two fold monoclinic symmetry. Some of the material can be cabbed to form a cats-eye stone. It is a member of the pyroxene solution series, hedenbergite CaFe(Si2O6), johannsenite Ca(Mn,Fe)(Si2O6) and diopside CaMg(Si2O6).

Photos
& Locals:

1.) Rajasthan, India
2.) Rajasthan, India
3.) Rajasthan, India (Closeup)
4.) Rajasthan, India (Closeup)

5.) Dog Lake, Ontario, Canada
6.) Dog Lake, Ontario, Canada (closeup with Mica)
7.) Dog Lake, Ontario, Canada
8.) Dog Lake, Ontario, Canada (closeup)

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