Article
Article
Pyroxenite
Article By:
Chapman, Carleton A. Department of Geology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois.
Last reviewed:December 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.560500
A heavy, dark-colored, phaneritic (visibly crystalline) igneous rock composed largely of pyroxene with smaller amounts of olivine or hornblende. Pyroxenite composed largely of orthopyroxene occurs with anorthosite and peridotite in large, banded gabbro bodies. These rocks are formed by crystallization of gabbroic magma (rock melt). Some of these pyroxenite masses are rich sources of chromium. Certain pyroxenites composed largely of clinopyroxene are also of magmatic origin, but many probably represent products of reaction between magma and limestone. Other pyroxene-rich rocks have formed through the processes of metamorphism and metasomatism. See also: Gabbro; Igneous rocks; Peridotite; Pyroxene
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