SALITE

    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

Salite in the World

Salite deposits are not usually distinguished from those of diopside. True salite is however well described at Franklin (New Jersey), where it is an original zinciferous variety called "schefferite", at Amity (New York), as well as in Sweden (Nordmark, Sala), and in large crystals at Slyudyanka (Siberia).

Salite in France

In France, salite is reported in the volcanism of the Chaîne des Puy (Puy-de-Dôme), in Montbrison (Loire), as well as in Velay (Haute-Loire).

Twinning

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

Fakes and treatments

No fakes listed for this mineral species.



Hardness : 5.5 to 6.5
Density : 3.22 to 3.38
Fracture : Irregular to conchoidal
Streak : White


TP : Opaque to transparent
RI : 1.663 to 1.728
Birefringence : 0.030
Optical character : Biaxial +
Pleochroism : Visible
Fluorescence : Sometimes blue-white


Solubility : Insoluble

Magnetism : ParamagneticRadioactivity : None