Rock Identifier

Rock & Mineral Encyclopedia

Search and identify 1,000+ rocks, minerals, crystals, and gemstones — with properties, formation, colors, hardness, and how to tell them apart.

Yellow Garnet

Yellow Garnet

A trade term for yellow garnets, including golden grossular, yellow andradite (topazolite), and yellow-green Mali garnet.

gemstone
Pietersite

Pietersite

A brecciated, chatoyant quartz with swirling blue, gold, and brown fibers that shimmer like a stormy sky.

gemstone
Cleavelandite

Cleavelandite

A striking platy, blade-like variety of albite feldspar that grows in fanned aggregates of thin white crystals within granite pegmatites.

mineral
Rubellite

Rubellite

The red to raspberry-pink variety of tourmaline, prized for its vivid ruby-like color that holds under both daylight and artificial light.

gemstone
Larimar

Larimar

A rare sky-blue variety of pectolite found only in the Dominican Republic, prized for its sea-like color and white volcanic patterning.

gemstone
Wehrite

Wehrite

An ultramafic rock of olivine and clinopyroxene, a peridotite variety common as cumulate layers in mafic intrusions.

igneous
Goshenite Crystal

Goshenite Crystal

The pure colorless variety of beryl, valued as crystal specimens and as a brilliant alternative to clearer gemstones.

crystal
Achroite

Achroite

The rare colorless variety of tourmaline, named from the Greek for 'without color' and prized by collectors.

gemstone
Iolite

Iolite

The gem variety of cordierite, famous for strong pleochroism that shifts from violet-blue to near-colorless.

gemstone
Emerald Crystal

Emerald Crystal

The natural crystalline form of emerald, the prized green chromium-and-vanadium variety of beryl and the May birthstone.

crystal
White Topaz

White Topaz

A colorless, transparent variety of topaz valued as an affordable, hard, brilliant alternative to diamond in jewelry.

gemstone
Lodestone

Lodestone

A naturally magnetized variety of magnetite that attracts iron, historically used as the first magnetic compass.

mineral
Hessonite Garnet

Hessonite Garnet

The cinnamon-to-honey colored variety of grossular garnet, prized in jewelry and revered as the gem 'gomed' in Vedic astrology.

gemstone
Golden Beryl

Golden Beryl

The pure golden-yellow gem variety of beryl, colored by iron and valued for its clarity, brilliance, and durability.

gemstone
Canary Tourmaline

Canary Tourmaline

The vivid, pure yellow tourmaline marketed as canary, a rare manganese-rich variety from Zambia and Malawi.

gemstone
Banded Agate

Banded Agate

The classic agate defined by concentric or parallel bands of chalcedony in varied colors, the archetype of all agate varieties.

gemstone
Goshenite

Goshenite

The colorless variety of beryl, named after Goshen, Massachusetts, prized for its purity, clarity, and durability.

gemstone
Websterite

Websterite

A variety of pyroxenite composed of both orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene with little olivine, found in layered intrusions and the mantle.

igneous
Orange Garnet

Orange Garnet

A trade term for orange garnets, mainly manganese-rich spessartine and the brownish hessonite variety of grossular.

gemstone
Yellow Labradorite

Yellow Labradorite

A transparent yellow to golden gem variety of labradorite feldspar, usually faceted to show its clear, warm color.

gemstone
Sapphire

Sapphire

The gem variety of corundum in every color except red, most prized in velvety blue and exceptionally hard and durable.

gemstone
Red Beryl

Red Beryl

An exceptionally rare red variety of beryl colored by manganese, found chiefly in Utah and prized as one of the rarest gems.

gemstone
Mint Tourmaline

Mint Tourmaline

A soft, pastel minty-green tourmaline prized for its fresh, light color, a delicate variety of green elbaite.

gemstone
Indicolite

Indicolite

The blue variety of tourmaline, a relatively rare and prized color ranging from teal and greenish blue to deep indigo.

gemstone