Encyclopedia > Pyroxene

  Article Content

Pyroxene

Pyroxenes are a group of the rock-forming silicate minerals. They are comprised of single chains of silica tetrahedra and have the general formula XY(Si,Al)2O6. X represents calcium, sodium, iron+2 and magnesium and more rarely zinc, manganese and lithium. Y represents ions of smaller size, such as chromium, aluminium, iron+3, magnesium, manganese, scandium, titanium, vanadium and even iron+2. Although aluminium commonly substitutes for silicon in other silicates, it usually doesn't substitute for silicon in a pyroxene.

The name pyroxene comes from the Greek words for fire and stranger. It was named thusly due to their presence in volcanic lavas, where they are sometimes seen as crystals embedded in volcanic glass; it was assumed that were impurities in the glass, hence the name "fire strangers". However, they are simply early forming minerals that crystallized before the lava erupted.

The mantle of Earth is composed mainly of olivine and pyroxene.

Some pyroxenes:

  • Clinopyroxenes (monoclinic)
    • Aegirine (Sodium Iron Silicate)
    • Augite (Calcium Sodium Magnesium Iron Aluminum Silicate)
    • Clinoenstatite (Magnesium Silicate)
    • Diopside (Calcium Magnesium Silicate, CaMgSi2O6)
    • Esseneite (Calcium Iron Aluminum Silicate)
    • Hedenbergite (Calcium Iron Silicate)
    • Hypersthene (Magnesium Iron Silicate)
    • Jadeite (Sodium Aluminum Silicate)
    • Jervisite (Sodium Calcium Iron Scandium Magnesium Silicate)
    • Johannsenite (Calcium Manganese Silicate)
    • Kanoite (Manganese Magnesium Silicate)
    • Kosmochlor (Sodium Chromium Silicate)
    • Namansilite (Sodium Manganese Silicate)
    • Natalyite (Sodium Vanadium Chromium Silicate)
    • Omphacite (Calcium Sodium Magnesium Iron Aluminum Silicate)
    • Petedunnite (Calcium Zinc Manganese Iron Magnesium Silicate)
    • Pigeonite (Calcium Magnesium Iron Silicate)
    • Spodumene (Lithium Aluminum Silicate)
  • Orthopyroxenes (Orthorhombic)
    • Donpeacorite (Manganese Magnesium Silicate)
    • Enstatite (Magnesium Silicate)
    • Ferrosilite (Iron Magnesium Silicate)
    • Nchwaningite (Hydrated Manganese Silicate)

External links

  • [1] (http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/silicate/pyroxene.htm)



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
French resistance

... (CFLN or French Committee of National Liberation) Compagnons de la France[?] (Companions of France) – group of ex-soldiers formed in Vichy France. ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 35 ms