Rock & Mineral Encyclopedia

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

Pyrargyrite

A silver antimony sulfosalt known as dark ruby silver, an important silver ore with deep red internal reflections.

A scarlet-red silver arsenic sulfide known as light ruby silver, a striking but light-sensitive ore that darkens on exposure.

A vivid yellow-and-black banded stone from Indonesian volcanic vents, colored by sulfur, arsenic minerals and iron oxides, not true jasper.

The smoky brown to gray variety of quartz, colored by natural irradiation, valued as both a gemstone and crystal specimen.

An unusually pure, transparent-to-translucent obsidian with few inclusions; truly water-clear specimens are rare in nature.

A copper-iron sulfide ore famous for its iridescent peacock-like purple and blue tarnish; often sold as treated chalcopyrite.

The pure colorless variety of beryl, valued as crystal specimens and as a brilliant alternative to clearer gemstones.

A naturally magnetic black iron oxide and a major iron ore; strongly magnetic specimens are known as lodestone.

A striking lead chromate mineral prized for its brilliant orange-red prismatic crystals, with the finest specimens from Tasmania.

A heavy lead sulfate secondary mineral, often colorless to white with adamantine luster, formed by the oxidation of galena.

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

A water-bearing massive grossular garnet, usually green or pink, widely used as a tough jade-like carving stone.

A schist derived from clay-rich sediments, rich in mica and often bearing index minerals like garnet, staurolite, or kyanite.

A pale jasper threaded with black, fern-like mineral dendrites that mimic plants, trees, and frost despite being inorganic.