Diopside (redirected from Coccolite)

diopside

Common silicate mineral in the pyroxene family. Diopside is a calcium and magnesium silicate (CaMgSi₂O₆) that occurs in metamorphosed siliceous limestones and dolomites, in skarns, and in igneous rocks. It is also found in small amounts in many chondritic meteorites. Clear specimens of good green colour are sometimes cut as gems.

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diopside [dī′äp‚sīd]

(mineralogy)

CaMg(SiO₃)₂A white to green monoclinic pyroxene mineral which forms gray to white, short, stubby, prismatic, often equidimensional crystals. Also known as malacolite.

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Diopside 

a rock-forming mineral, a silicate of the group of monoclinic pyroxenes. Its chemical composition is CaMg[Si₂O₆]; part of the Mg can be replaced by Fe²⁺. Gray to grayish-green in color, it has a hardness on the mineralogical scale of 5.5-6 and a density of 3,270-3,400 kg/m³. Diopside is usually encountered as irregularly shaped grains with a good cleavage in gabbro, diabase, diorite, syenite, skarn, and other igneous and metamorphic rocks. More rarely it forms large transparent green crystals (so-called baikalite).