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.

Plum Tourmaline

Plum Tourmaline

A purplish, plum-toned elbaite tourmaline colored by manganese, blending the red of rubellite with violet-blue undertones.

gemstone
Red Tourmaline

Red Tourmaline

Vivid red to raspberry tourmaline, the most intense colors are marketed as rubellite, colored by manganese in the elbaite structure.

gemstone
Blue Tourmaline

Blue Tourmaline

Tourmaline in blue tones, encompassing iron-colored indicolite and the rare neon copper-bearing Paraiba, among the scarcer tourmaline colors.

gemstone
Lemon Tourmaline

Lemon Tourmaline

A bright lemon-to-canary yellow tourmaline colored by manganese, among the more cheerful and uncommon hues in the tourmaline family.

gemstone
Brown Tourmaline

Brown Tourmaline

Warm brown tourmaline, usually magnesium-rich dravite, with tones from pale champagne to deep coffee-brown.

gemstone
Green Tourmaline

Green Tourmaline

The green variety of tourmaline, also called verdelite, ranging from bright grass green to deep forest tones colored by iron.

gemstone
Clear Tourmaline

Clear Tourmaline

A transparent, water-clear elbaite tourmaline (achroite), the rare colorless and highly transparent form of the tourmaline group.

gemstone
White Tourmaline

White Tourmaline

A colorless to milky-white elbaite tourmaline known as achroite, the rare nearly pigment-free member of the tourmaline group.

gemstone
Black Agate

Black Agate

A deep black variety of banded chalcedony, often closely related to or treated like onyx, used for jewelry and carvings.

gemstone
Black Garnet

Black Garnet

An opaque black garnet — typically titanium-bearing melanite andradite — historically cut for mourning and Victorian jewelry.

gemstone
Pink Tourmaline

Pink Tourmaline

A pink to red gem variety of elbaite tourmaline, colored by manganese, ranging from soft pastel pink to vivid rubellite red.

gemstone
Orange Tourmaline

Orange Tourmaline

A warm orange to tangerine tourmaline, an uncommon hue produced by manganese and iron in the crystal.

gemstone
Violet Tourmaline

Violet Tourmaline

Elbaite tourmaline in violet to purple hues colored by manganese, a relatively scarce and sought-after tourmaline color.

gemstone
Purple Tourmaline

Purple Tourmaline

An uncommon purple to violet tourmaline colored by manganese, the deeper reddish-purple stones sometimes called siberite.

gemstone

Canary Tourmaline

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

gemstone
Yellow Tourmaline

Yellow Tourmaline

Bright yellow to golden tourmaline colored by manganese, with the most vivid canary stones among the rarest tourmaline hues.

gemstone
Black Jasper

Black Jasper

A dense, opaque black variety of microcrystalline quartz historically used as a touchstone for testing precious metals.

mineral
Paraiba Tourmaline

Paraiba Tourmaline

An intensely glowing copper-bearing tourmaline famed for its electric neon blue-green color and extreme rarity and value.

gemstone
Olive Tourmaline

Olive Tourmaline

An earthy olive to yellowish-green tourmaline, a muted green-brown gem variety colored by iron with subtle warm undertones.

gemstone
Peach Tourmaline

Peach Tourmaline

A gentle peachy-pink tourmaline blending soft pink and orange tones, a delicate pastel variety of elbaite.

gemstone
Black Obsidian

Black Obsidian

Jet-black natural volcanic glass formed by rapidly cooled lava, prized for its glassy luster and razor-sharp conchoidal fracture.

igneous
Chrome Tourmaline

Chrome Tourmaline

An intensely green tourmaline colored by chromium and vanadium, prized for its vivid emerald-like color from East Africa.

gemstone
Pastel Tourmaline

Pastel Tourmaline

A trade name for lightly saturated elbaite tourmalines in delicate pastel pinks, mints, peaches, and blues popular in modern jewelry.

gemstone
Lavender Tourmaline

Lavender Tourmaline

A delicate pale purple elbaite tourmaline in soft lavender and lilac tones, colored by manganese.

gemstone