Rock & Mineral Encyclopedia

Search and identify 1,000+ rocks, minerals, crystals, and gemstones — with properties, formation, colors, hardness, and how to tell them apart.

Green Jasper

An opaque green variety of chalcedony quartz colored by iron and chlorite-group inclusions, prized as a durable carving and cabochon stone.

Ancient chemically deposited rock of alternating iron-oxide and silica bands recording Earth's early oxygenation and a major iron ore source.

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

A warm desert-toned picture jasper trade stone with sandy tan, gold, and brown swirls evoking Saharan dunes.

A dark jasper trade stone speckled with pale flecks resembling a starry night sky, valued for its cosmic appearance.

A green-and-red ornamental stone of epidote and red piemontite or iron oxide, named for its dragon-skin coloring; not a true jasper.

A landscape-patterned Chinese jasper prized for warm cherry-red, cream, and green bands resembling painted scenery.

A prized Idaho jasper known for porcelain-smooth pastel pinks, creams, and greens in soft swirling, orbicular patterns.

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

A banded, metamorphosed iron formation in which bright red jasper alternates with silvery hematite or magnetite layers.

Iron-stained sandstone whose red color comes from hematite coatings, formed in oxidizing desert, river, and coastal environments.

A natural volcanic glass with rich brown and black mahogany-like swirls created by iron oxide inclusions.

A dark green chalcedony speckled with blood-red spots of iron oxide, traditionally known as heliotrope.

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

An orange-to-rust colored variety of natural volcanic glass whose warm tone comes from iron oxide staining within the obsidian.