Class : Silicates
    Subclass : Inosilicates
    Crystal system : Monoclinic
    Chemistry : CaMgSi₂O₆
    Rarity : Common to very common

Salite (sometimes spelled sahlite) is an old term for a pyroxene of intermediate composition between diopside and hedenbergite (clinopyroxene family). This term is little used today and salite is classified as a variety of diopside. It should be remembered that the diopside - hedenbergite series constitutes a continuous solid solution of the pyroxene group. Salite is known in basic igneous rocks, calcic sediments and limestones affected by strong regional metamorphism (amphibolite facies), as well as in charnockites. Its name comes from its discovery locality : Sala in Sweden. Salite occurs mainly in lamellar or granular masses, more rarely in prismatic crystals, sometimes slender, pseudoquadratic with a square or octagonal section, and striated according to the cleavage. Its color is grayish green to dark green and black, sometimes grayish, yellowish or pale green.

Main photo : Salite from Sala Silver Mine, Sala, Sweden © Harold Moritz

Single or multiple twinning are known on {100} and {010}.

No fakes listed for this mineral species.