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.

Golden Healer Quartz

Golden Healer Quartz

Quartz colored or coated by golden iron oxides such as limonite or goethite, giving a warm sunlit yellow glow.

crystal
Uraninite

Uraninite

Uraninite is the chief radioactive uranium ore, a dense black oxide and the historic source of radium and uranium.

mineral
Hausmannite

Hausmannite

A brownish-black manganese oxide and important manganese ore, forming pseudo-octahedral crystals with a chestnut-brown streak.

mineral
Anatase

Anatase

A tetragonal titanium dioxide polymorph forming steep bipyramidal crystals, often deep blue to black with brilliant adamantine luster.

mineral
Red Obsidian

Red Obsidian

Volcanic glass tinted red by fine iron-oxide inclusions, often blended with black to form mahogany-patterned obsidian.

crystal
Goethite

Goethite

Goethite is a common brown iron oxyhydroxide, the main crystalline component of limonite and rust, with shimmering botryoidal forms.

mineral
Feruvite

Feruvite

A calcium- and ferrous-iron-rich tourmaline, the iron analogue of uvite, forming dark brown to black crystals in skarns and metamorphic rocks.

mineral
Zincite

Zincite

A rare zinc oxide best known for its deep red to orange color, classically from Franklin, New Jersey, and as colorful man-made crystals.

mineral
Rutile

Rutile

Rutile is a major titanium ore and the famous golden needle inclusion that gives rutilated quartz its shimmering threads.

mineral
Cassiterite

Cassiterite

Tin oxide and the principal ore of tin, a dense, hard mineral mined since the Bronze Age for tin metal.

mineral
Pyrite

Pyrite

The brassy iron sulfide mineral famous as 'fool's gold,' known for sharp metallic cubes and a much higher hardness than real gold.

mineral
Brown Jasper

Brown Jasper

An opaque earth-toned jasper colored brown by iron oxides, ranging from pale tan to deep chocolate.

mineral
Andradite Garnet

Andradite Garnet

The calcium-iron garnet species, ranging from brilliant green demantoid to golden topazolite and jet-black melanite.

gemstone
Schorl

Schorl

The common iron-rich black variety of tourmaline, by far the most abundant tourmaline species and a popular grounding crystal.

mineral
Eulysite

Eulysite

A rare, dense iron-rich metamorphic rock composed of fayalite, iron pyroxene, and almandine garnet.

metamorphic
Ruin Marble

Ruin Marble

A fractured fine-grained limestone whose iron-stained crack networks form natural scenes resembling ruined cities and landscapes.

sedimentary
Brecciated Jasper

Brecciated Jasper

A jasper made of angular fragments naturally cemented back together, typically showing red and brown pieces in a quartz matrix.

sedimentary
Pyrrhotite

Pyrrhotite

A bronze-colored iron sulfide notable for being the most magnetic of the common sulfide minerals and an important nickel host.

mineral
Columbite

Columbite

A black iron-manganese niobate that is a primary ore of niobium, forming a continuous series with tantalite (together called coltan).

mineral
Cave Creek Jasper

Cave Creek Jasper

An opaque jasper from the Cave Creek area of Arizona, prized for earthy mottled and banded patterns in warm desert tones.

mineral
Strawberry Quartz

Strawberry Quartz

A pink-to-red quartz colored by iron oxide inclusions that create a speckled, strawberry-like appearance within clear crystal.

crystal
Paintbrush Jasper

Paintbrush Jasper

A scenic jasper whose flowing streaks of warm color resemble strokes left by a loaded paintbrush.

mineral
Bird's Eye Jasper

Bird's Eye Jasper

A microcrystalline quartz jasper marked by small concentric ring or eye patterns that resemble the eyes of birds.

mineral
Black Tourmaline

Black Tourmaline

The opaque black iron-rich variety of tourmaline (schorl), forming striated prismatic crystals popular as a protective grounding stone.

mineral