Enstatite
Enstatite is a known member of the Orthopyroxene Group that also includes Bronzite and Hypersthene. It is found as colorless, gray, green, yellow and crystals which can be brown. Enstatite is closely associated with Bronzite which has somewhat more iron content than Enstatite and is, as the title implies, a lovely bronze color and has luster that is sub-adamantine. An extremely dark green to black colored Enstatite pet’s eye can be available and a chrome chromian-Enstatite that is green rarely discovered.
Enstatite can be found in numerous locations worldwide but only a produce that is few quality crystals. Two of the best locations which are known Embilipituya, Sri Lanka and Mbeya, Tanzania. Enstatite is also commonly found in iron and stony meteorites.
Distribution: Prominent localities for well-studied product include: from · Zdár (Zdjarberg), Czech Republic. At Ødegården and Kjörrestad, Bamble, Norway. From The Lizard, Cornwall, England. At Dawros, County Connaught, Ireland. From Kupferberg, Bavaria, and the Bellerberg volcano, two north that is km of, Eifel district, Germany. At Kraubath, Styria, Austria. Fine crystals from Mbeya, Tanzania. At Liahobong, Lesotho. In the united states, at Webster, Jackson County, and on Corundum Hill, Macon County, North Carolina; at Wood’s chrome mine and Texas, Lancaster County, and elsewhere in Pennsylvania. Gem material from Embilipituya, Sri Lanka.
| Category: | Inosilicate |
| Chemical Formula: | Mg2Si2O6 |
| Magnesium Silicate | |
| Molecular Weight: | 200.78 gm |
| Composition: | Magnesium | 24.21 % | Mg | 40.15 % | MgO |
| Silicon | 27.98 % | Si | 59.85 % | SiO2 | |
| Oxygen | 47.81 % | O | |||
| 100.00 % | 100.00 % | = TOTAL OXIDE |
| Crystallography: | Orthorhombic – Dipyramidal | |
| Crystal Habit: | Crystals prismatic, to 40 cm; commonly lamellar, fibrous, or massive. | |
| Twinning: | Simple and lamellar twinning on {100} | |
| Cleavage: | Good on {210}, (210) ^ (210) ~88°; partings on {100} and {010} |
| Fracture: | Irregular/Uneven |
| Tenacity: | Brittle |
| Moh’s Hardness: | 5.0 – 6.0 |
| Density: | 3.20 – 3.90 (g/cm3) |
| Luminescence: | Not Fluorescent |
| Radioactivity: | Not Radioactive |
| Color: | White, grayish, yellowish, greenish, olive-green, brown; colorless in thin section |
| Transparency: | Transparent to Opaque |
| Luster: | Vitreous, pearly on cleavages |
| Refractive Index: | 1.650 – 1.679 Biaxial ( + ) |
| Birefringence: | 0.009 – 0.011 |
| Dispersion: | Weak to moderate; r < v |
| Pleochroism: | None |
