Peridotite

Peridotite is a very dense, coarse-grained, olivine-rich, ultra- mafic intrusive rock.

It is noted for its low silica content, and contains very little or no feldspar
( orthoclase, plagioclase).

It is a common component of oceanic lithosphere, and is derived from the upper

mantle.

It is found on land as part of oceanic crust sequences called ophiolites which have
been thrust in or on to a continental mass, or as localised intrusions.

Uses
As a source of valuable ores and minerals, including chromite, platinum, nickel and
precious garnet; diamonds are obtained from mica-rich peridotite (kimberlite) in South
Africa.

Peridotites are economically important rocks because they often contain chromite – the only
ore of chromium;

they can be source rocks for diamonds; and,

they have the potential to be used as a material for sequestering carbon dioxide.

Pyroxenite
intrusive ultramafic igneous rocks composed essentially of pyroxene group of minerals, such as
augite and diopside, hypersthene, diallage, bronzite, and enstatite.

coarse-grained rock and that contains at least 90 percent pyroxene minerals.

There are three type of pyroxenite rock that areclinopyroxenites, orthopyroxenites, and
the websterites.

pyroxenites have been named according to their dominant pyroxene mineral—

e.g., diopsidite, which occurs in the Pyrenees, and orthopyroxene, which
occurs in the Bushveld of South Africa.
Dunite
light yellowish green, intrusive igneous ultramafic rock that is composed
almost entirely of olivine.
It is a common rock in Earth’s upper mantle.
Dunite usually forms sills (tabular bodies intruded between other rocks) but
may also occur as lenses (thin-edged strata) or pipes (funnels, more or less
oval in cross section, that become narrower with increasing depth).
Dunite was named by the German geologist, Ferdinand von Hochstetter in 1859 after Dun Mountain near
Nelson, New Zealand. Dun Mountain was given its name because of the dun colour of the underlying
ultramafic rocks.