Diopside

A calcium magnesium pyroxene. Chrome diopside is a vivid green gem; black star diopside comes from India.

Diopside specimen — Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How to identify diopside

Bright to bottle green, stubby prisms.
Two cleavages at nearly 90°.
Hardness about 6.

Often confused with

Emerald
Emerald is harder and hexagonal.
Compare side by side
Olivine
Peridot is yellower and lacks cleavage.
Compare side by side

Where it's found

Yakutia, Siberia
Pakistan
Val d'Ala, Italy
India

Uses

Gemstones and collector specimens.

Rock tumbling

Can be tumbled with care.

Did you know?

Chrome diopside is sometimes called 'Siberian emerald'.

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