About
For additional information, see the gemstone section on Diopside.
Crystal Forms & Aggregates
Other ID Marks
Striking Features
Environment
Varieties
✓ common · ✗ uncommon
- Chrome-Diopside— Emerald green, chromium-rich variety of Diopside.
- Malacolite— White or lightly tinted variety of Diopside, usually fluorescent.
- Violane— Light blue to purple, manganese-rich variety of Diopside.
- Dekalbite— Pure Diopside free of iron impurities.
- Salaite— Diopside with a large amount of iron impurities, leaning towards Hedenbergite.
- Schefferite— Manganese-rich variety of Diopside. A zinc-rich form also exists, and it may be called "Zinc Schefferite".
Uses
Noteworthy Localities
Important worldwide occurrences of Diopside include Slyudyanka, Lake Baikal area, Russia; the Ziller Tal, Tyrol, Austria; Tulear Province, Madagascar; and a new find of gemmy crystals from the Kunlun Mts, Xinjiang, China. Vivid green Diopside crystals with exceptional transparency come from the Karo Mine, Merelani Hills, Arusha, Tanzania, where it is associated with sharp Graphite plates.
The emerald-green, chromium-rich variety Chrome Diopside comes from several places, specifically Outokumpu, Finland; Konar and Nangharnar Provinces, Afghanistan; Alchuri (Shigar Valley), the Tormiq Valley, and Chamachhu, Skardu District, Pakistan; and Inagli Massif, Aldan, Russia.
In the U.S., the best Diopside localities are in New York. The premier U.S. locality is De Kalb, St Lawrence Co., New York, where this mineral forms in transparent and gemmy light to medium green crystals. Dark, forest-green Diopside with good form and a contrasting white matrix comes from the Rose Road locality, near Pitcairn, also in St Lawrence Co., New York. Very large opaque crystals were found in Orange Co., New York, at Amity and Edenville; and nearby at several of the old iron mines in the Hudson Highlands and Ramapo Mountains region. Other good U.S. localities are Sanford, York Co., Maine; the Belvidere Mountain quarries, Lowell/Eden, Orleans & Lamoille Cos., Vermont; and the Crestmore Quarry, Riverside Co., California.
Canada also has many good deposits for this mineral. Fibrous bundles of Diopside associated with bright-green Grossular comes from Brompton Lake, Quebec. Other famous localities in Canada are the Orford Nickel mine, St-Denis-de-Brompton; Wilberforce and Cardiff, Haliburton Co,. Ontario; Bancroft, Hastings Co.; and the Jefferey Mine, Asbestos, Quebec, where it occurs in a unique tabular, transparent flat crystal form. White Diopside crystals are known from Dog Lake, Frontenac Co., Ontario, Canada.
Common Mineral Associations
Distinguishing Similar Minerals
Enstatite - Can be very difficult to distinguish.
Augite - Very difficult to distinguish, although usually darker and less transparent.
Olivine - Different cleavage, occurs in different environments.
Hedenbergite - Usually darker in color, otherwise cannot be distinguished.
Photos
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