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.

Gary Green Jasper

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

mineral
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
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
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

Sardonyx

A banded chalcedony combining reddish-brown sard with white or black onyx layers, prized since antiquity for carved cameos.

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
Travertine

Travertine

A banded, porous limestone deposited by mineral springs, prized as a warm-toned natural building and tile stone.

sedimentary

Riband Agate

A banded chalcedony with straight, ribbon-like parallel layers, often cut across the bands for striking striped cabochons.

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
Mint Tourmaline

Mint Tourmaline

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

gemstone
Prasiolite

Prasiolite

A pale green variety of quartz, usually created by heat-treating amethyst, often marketed as green amethyst.

gemstone

Mint Obsidian

A pale mint-green glass sold as obsidian; most uniform light-green material on the market is manufactured glass rather than natural volcanic obsidian.

igneous
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

Mint Opal

A soft mint-green variety of common opal, usually opaque and colored by trace copper or nontronite inclusions rather than play-of-color.

gemstone
Tsavorite Garnet

Tsavorite Garnet

A brilliant green grossular garnet colored by chromium and vanadium, rivaling emerald with superior brilliance and durability.

gemstone

Prase

An old name for a dull leek-green variety of quartz or chalcedony colored by green mineral inclusions, historically called mother of emerald.

crystal

Amegreen

A natural bicolor quartz blending amethyst purple with prasiolite green in a single crystal, prized as a metaphysical heart-crown stone.

crystal
Greensand

Greensand

A green, glauconite-rich marine sandstone that records slow deposition on continental shelves and is used as a soil amendment.

sedimentary
Malachite

Malachite

A vivid green copper carbonate mineral famous for swirling concentric bands, used as an ore of copper and an ornamental gemstone.

mineral

Mint Garnet

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

gemstone
Pyromorphite

Pyromorphite

A lead phosphate secondary mineral known for barrel-shaped green to yellow crystals formed in oxidized lead deposits.

mineral
Verdite

Verdite

A rich green, fuchsite-rich metamorphic rock from southern Africa, prized as a carving and ornamental stone.

metamorphic
Glauconite

Glauconite

A soft, green iron-potassium mica that forms in marine sediments and gives greensand its characteristic olive color.

mineral
Verdelite

Verdelite

The classic green gem variety of elbaite tourmaline, ranging from bright grass-green to deep forest tones colored by iron or chromium.

gemstone