Enstatite

Physical Properties
Chemical formula Mg2Si2O4
Class Inosilicate
Double chains of linked tetrahedra
Crystal system Orthorhombic
Habit Massive
Blocky
Fibrous
Lamellar
Prismatic
Acicular
Color Gray, green
Hardness 5 to 6
Specific gravity 3.2 to 3.5
Cleavage Two perfect prismatic {210}
Fracture Uneven
Luster Vitreous, pearly
Transparency Translucent
Streak White, gray
Optical Properties
PPL Nearly colorless
May display varying strengths of pink
to green pleochroism
XPL 1st order colors
Parallel extinction
Straight, parallel lines
δ 0.008
after Perkins, 326-327

Enstatite In Hand Sample

Enstatite
Enstatite in peridotite from the Josephine ophiolite exposed in Josephine County, Oregon
Scanning electron micrograph of enstatite

Enstatite in Thin Section

Thin Section GigaPans

Enstatite in plane polars
Enstatite in crossed polars

Enstatite, PPL

Enstatite, Plane Polars

Enstatite in plane polarized light. Magnification: 40x To view this mineral in crossed polars, click here: https://youtu.be/bucBtmg9_i4 To explore a gigapan …

Enstatite, XPL

Enstatite, Crossed Polars

Enstatite displaying parallel extinction in cross polarized light. Magnification: 40x To view this mineral in plane polars, click here: https://youtu.be/x5v_…

Enstatite kodama

Further Reading

Enstatite at webmineral.com
Enstatite at mindat.org