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.

Color-Change Tourmaline

Color-Change Tourmaline

A rare tourmaline that visibly changes color between daylight and incandescent light, similar to the alexandrite effect.

gemstone
Cat's Eye Tourmaline

Cat's Eye Tourmaline

Tourmaline displaying chatoyancy, a moving band of light caused by parallel tube-like inclusions, when cut as a cabochon.

gemstone
Purple-Pink Tourmaline

Purple-Pink Tourmaline

Elbaite tourmaline in purplish-pink to magenta hues, colored by manganese, prized for its vivid orchid-like tones.

gemstone
Tourmaline

Tourmaline

A boron-rich silicate gemstone group famous for occurring in every color of the rainbow, sometimes several within a single crystal.

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
Bubblegum Tourmaline

Bubblegum Tourmaline

A bright, opaque-to-translucent bubblegum-pink elbaite tourmaline, a playful candy-pink variety popular in beads and cabochons.

gemstone
Purple Tourmaline

Purple Tourmaline

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

gemstone
Tourmaline Schist

Tourmaline Schist

A foliated schist threaded with black tourmaline (schorl) needles, marking boron-rich metamorphic or metasomatic conditions.

metamorphic

Canary Tourmaline

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

gemstone
Violet Tourmaline

Violet Tourmaline

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

gemstone
Black Tourmaline

Black Tourmaline

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

mineral
Rose Tourmaline

Rose Tourmaline

A soft to medium pink elbaite tourmaline in rose hues, colored by manganese and prized for romantic jewelry.

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
Lavender Tourmaline

Lavender Tourmaline

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

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
Orange Tourmaline

Orange Tourmaline

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

gemstone
Plum Tourmaline

Plum Tourmaline

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

gemstone
Cranberry Tourmaline

Cranberry Tourmaline

A deep cranberry-red to purplish-pink variety of lithium-rich elbaite tourmaline, prized as a rich, saturated rubellite gemstone.

gemstone
Sherry Tourmaline

Sherry Tourmaline

A warm sherry-brown to orange-brown tourmaline, usually magnesium-rich dravite, named for its rich fortified-wine color.

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
Raspberry Tourmaline

Raspberry Tourmaline

A vivid raspberry-pink to pinkish-red elbaite tourmaline, a bright, cheerful member of the rubellite family colored by manganese.

gemstone

Mustard Tourmaline

A warm mustard to brownish-yellow tourmaline, colored by iron or manganese, sitting between yellow and brown dravite tones.

gemstone