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.

Carver Agate

Carver Agate

A collectible Oregon plume and scenic agate with feathery red and gold inclusions suspended in translucent chalcedony.

gemstone
Rhodochrosite

Rhodochrosite

Rhodochrosite is a rose-pink manganese carbonate prized for raspberry-red crystals and banded pink-and-white gem material.

gemstone
Pyrope Garnet

Pyrope Garnet

The magnesium-rich garnet famed for its intense blood-red 'fire,' historically the Bohemian garnet of Victorian jewelry.

gemstone
Condor Agate

Condor Agate

A vividly banded fortification agate from Argentina prized for its bold red, gold and white concentric patterns.

gemstone
Pietersite

Pietersite

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

gemstone
Chrysoprase

Chrysoprase

A translucent apple-green chalcedony colored by nickel, the most prized green variety of the quartz family.

gemstone
Rhodolite Garnet

Rhodolite Garnet

A purplish-red to raspberry garnet that is a natural blend of pyrope and almandine, prized for its bright rose-violet color.

gemstone
Ruby in Zoisite

Ruby in Zoisite

A striking rock of green zoisite studded with red-pink ruby crystals and black hornblende, also called anyolite.

metamorphic
Staurolite-mica Schist

Staurolite-mica Schist

A mica schist studded with red-brown staurolite porphyroblasts, including the famous cross-shaped twins called fairy stones.

metamorphic
Pyralspite Garnet

Pyralspite Garnet

Pyralspite is the aluminum garnet series uniting pyrope, almandine, and spessartine, covering most red, orange, and purple gem garnets.

mineral
Wonderstone

Wonderstone

A banded rhyolitic volcanic rock with swirling tan, red, and yellow iron-oxide layers prized as a decorative picture stone.

igneous
Povondraite

Povondraite

A rare ferric-iron-dominant tourmaline that forms in oxidized evaporite settings, appearing as black to red-brown prismatic crystals.

mineral
Montana Moss Agate

Montana Moss Agate

A translucent chalcedony from Montana filled with black and red dendritic inclusions that look like moss, ferns, or scenic landscapes.

gemstone
Mexican Fire Opal

Mexican Fire Opal

A transparent to translucent opal prized for its glowing orange-to-red body color, mined chiefly in the volcanic highlands of Mexico.

gemstone
Laguna Agate

Laguna Agate

A highly prized Mexican fortification agate from Chihuahua, famed for vivid red and orange banding with tight, intricate patterns.

gemstone
Ceylon Garnet

Ceylon Garnet

Ceylon Garnet is a historic trade name for fine red almandine (and hessonite) garnet from the gem gravels of Sri Lanka.

gemstone
Syrian Garnet

Syrian Garnet

Syrian Garnet is an old trade name for fine deep-red almandine, historically tied to the Syriam region and prized as 'precious garnet.'

gemstone
Kakortokite

Kakortokite

A spectacularly banded agpaitic nepheline syenite of alternating red eudialyte, black amphibole and white feldspar layers from Ilimaussaq, Greenland.

igneous
Sunset Opal

Sunset Opal

An opal with warm sunset hues of orange, amber, and red, prized for its glowing fiery body color reminiscent of dusk skies.

gemstone
Lake Michigan Agate

Lake Michigan Agate

Glacially deposited banded agates found along Lake Michigan beaches, small waterworn pebbles with concentric red and grey banding.

gemstone
Garnet

Garnet

A group of silicate gemstones best known for deep red but spanning nearly every color, including green tsavorite and orange spessartine.

gemstone
Bixbyite

Bixbyite

A black metallic manganese iron oxide famous for sharp cubic crystals, classically found with red beryl and topaz in Utah rhyolite.

mineral
Crazy Lace Agate

Crazy Lace Agate

A Mexican banded agate famous for tightly swirling, contorted lacy patterns in warm reds, creams, and golds.

mineral
Onyx

Onyx

A banded variety of chalcedony quartz, classically black or black-and-white, long favored for cameos and beads.

gemstone