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-Green Obsidian

Yellow-Green Obsidian

A chartreuse yellow-green glass sold as obsidian; the bright color is manufactured and does not occur in natural volcanic glass.

igneous
Green Sheen Obsidian

Green Sheen Obsidian

Black volcanic glass that flashes a green sheen at certain angles due to light interference off aligned microscopic inclusions.

igneous
Gary Green Jasper

Gary Green Jasper

An Oregon jasper, also called larsonite, of silicified fossil wood showing olive-green fields laced with black dendritic patterns.

mineral
Forest Green Tourmaline

Forest Green Tourmaline

A deep, rich forest-green elbaite tourmaline (verdelite) colored mainly by iron, with strong pleochroism and excellent durability.

gemstone
Dark Green Tourmaline

Dark Green Tourmaline

Deeply saturated green tourmaline colored by iron, often so dark it appears nearly black until viewed in bright light.

gemstone
Goldstone

Goldstone

A man-made glittering glass packed with tiny copper crystals, traditionally reddish-brown but also made in blue and green.

crystal
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
Cat's Eye Green Tourmaline

Cat's Eye Green Tourmaline

Green tourmaline cut as a cabochon to show a sharp moving band of light (chatoyancy) caused by fine parallel inclusions.

gemstone
Mariposite

Mariposite

A green, gold-associated metamorphic rock made of chrome-rich mica and quartz, named for Mariposa County in California's gold country.

metamorphic
Oregon Sunstone

Oregon Sunstone

A copper-bearing labradorite feldspar from Oregon, famous for its range of natural colors and glittery aventurescent copper schiller.

gemstone
Vanadium Tourmaline

Vanadium Tourmaline

Vanadium-colored tourmaline, including the species vanadium dravite, producing rich emerald-green hues similar to chrome tourmaline.

mineral
Gondite

Gondite

A metamorphic rock made chiefly of manganese-rich spessartine garnet and quartz, formed from ancient manganese-bearing sediments.

metamorphic
Mint Garnet

Mint Garnet

A delicate pastel-green grossular garnet, lighter than tsavorite, most famously from the Merelani Hills of Tanzania.

gemstone
Chrysoprase

Chrysoprase

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

gemstone
Merelani Mint Garnet

Merelani Mint Garnet

A delicate vanadium-colored mint-green grossular garnet from the Merelani Hills of Tanzania, the source of tanzanite.

gemstone
Chrome Tourmaline

Chrome Tourmaline

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

gemstone
Chrome Diopside

Chrome Diopside

A vivid green chromium-bearing diopside, an affordable emerald-like gem mined largely in Siberia.

gemstone
Blue Beryl

Blue Beryl

The blue color variety of beryl, ranging from pale sky tones to rich sea-blue, best known in its finest grades as aquamarine.

gemstone
Paraiba Tourmaline

Paraiba Tourmaline

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

gemstone
Andesine-Labradorite

Andesine-Labradorite

An intermediate plagioclase feldspar spanning andesine and labradorite, marketed as a red-to-green gem, much of which is copper-diffusion treated.

gemstone
Emerald in Matrix

Emerald in Matrix

Natural emerald crystals still embedded in their host rock, prized as mineral specimens that show how the gem grew in place.

gemstone
Indicolite

Indicolite

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

gemstone
Metaquartzite

Metaquartzite

A hard, tough metamorphic rock of fused quartz grains, formed by recrystallizing quartz sandstone under heat and pressure.

metamorphic
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