Pyroxenes are an important and abundant group of rock-forming silicate minerals that vary in composition. Found in almost all volcanic rocks, as well as many metamorphic ones, René-Just Haüy coined the collective name of these minerals from the Greek words for “fire” and “stranger,” which is indicative of his belief that these greenish crystals were accidentally introduced into the lava samples he was studying.

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Pyroxenite is a type of intrusive igneous rock that is predominantly composed of pyroxenes. Relatively rare, when pyroxenite does occur it is typically found in dark-colored layers, sheets, veins, narrow dikes, and similar discrete forms. Some of the more notable occurrences of pyroxenite are located in Canada, Ireland, South Africa, and the Pyrenees mountain range. Most of the pyroxenite rocks found in these locations and elsewhere have been named for the chief pyroxene they contain. Some examples of this convention include bronzitite, which is dominated by hypersthene, a mineral that often exhibits a bronze-like luster, and diopsidite, in which the mineral diopside is the most abundant pyroxene.

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