What is "eclogite"

Eclogite \Ec"lo*gite\, n. [See Ecloque.] (Min.) A rock consisting of granular red garnet, light green smaragdite, and common hornblende; -- so called in reference to its beauty.

n. (context geology English) A coarse-grained metamorphic rock, a mixture of pyroxene, quartz, and feldspar with inclusions of red garnet.

Eclogite is a mafic metamorphic rock. Eclogite forms at pressures greater than those typical of the crust of the Earth. An unusually dense rock, eclogite can play an important role in driving convection within the solid Earth.

The fresh rock can be striking in appearance, with red to pink garnet ( almandine- pyrope) in a green matrix of sodium-rich pyroxene ( omphacite). Accessory minerals include kyanite, rutile, quartz, lawsonite, coesite, amphibole, phengite, paragonite, zoisite, dolomite, corundum, and, rarely, diamond. Plagioclase is not stable in eclogite.