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.

Cave Creek Jasper

Cave Creek Jasper

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

mineral
Reptile Jasper

Reptile Jasper

A green-and-black mottled jasper whose scale-like patterning resembles reptile skin, often linked to Kambaba and crocodile jaspers.

mineral
Butterstone Jasper

Butterstone Jasper

A soft-toned cream-to-butterscotch jasper colored by iron oxides, prized by lapidaries for its smooth, even, opaque finish.

gemstone
Red Jasper

Red Jasper

An opaque, iron-rich variety of microcrystalline quartz known for its deep brick-red color and ancient history as a stone of strength and grounding.

gemstone
Mustard Jasper

Mustard Jasper

A warm mustard-to-ochre yellow jasper colored by iron, valued by lapidaries for its rich, earthy golden tone.

gemstone
Crocodile Jasper

Crocodile Jasper

A deep green-and-black stromatolitic jasper, essentially Kambaba Jasper, with circular eye patterns resembling crocodile skin.

mineral
Wonderstone

Wonderstone

A banded rhyolitic volcanic rock with swirling tan, red, and yellow iron-oxide layers prized as a decorative picture stone.

igneous
Willow Creek Jasper

Willow Creek Jasper

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

mineral
Cherry Creek Jasper

Cherry Creek Jasper

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

mineral
Sugilite

Sugilite

A rare deep-purple manganese-bearing silicate, mostly from South Africa, prized for its vivid violet color.

mineral
Star Garnet

Star Garnet

A rare almandine garnet that displays a four- or six-rayed star (asterism) from oriented rutile inclusions; the state gem of Idaho.

gemstone
Picture Jasper

Picture Jasper

An opaque brown chalcedony whose iron-stained banding mimics deserts, dunes, and distant mountain skylines.

mineral
Amethyst

Amethyst

The purple variety of quartz, colored by iron and natural irradiation, prized as the classic violet birthstone of February.

crystal
Green Jasper

Green Jasper

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

mineral
Dendritic Agate

Dendritic Agate

A translucent chalcedony decorated with branching, fern-like manganese or iron oxide inclusions resembling tiny plants.

mineral
Orange Calcite

Orange Calcite

A soft, glowing orange variety of calcite colored by iron oxides, popular as tumbled stones and known for fizzing in acid.

mineral
Pisolite

Pisolite

A sedimentary rock built from pea-sized concentric spheres called pisoids, often carbonate but sometimes iron or aluminum-rich.

sedimentary
Peacock Ore

Peacock Ore

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

mineral
Starry Night Jasper

Starry Night Jasper

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

mineral
Flame Jasper

Flame Jasper

A fiery jasper whose red, orange, and yellow plumes lick across the stone like flames against an earthy background.

mineral
Dragon Garnet

Dragon Garnet

A trade name for deep wine-red garnet, typically a rich pyrope-almandine stone marketed for its dramatic, fiery color.

gemstone
Landscape Opal

Landscape Opal

A common opal containing dendritic or mossy mineral inclusions that form miniature landscape-like scenes inside the stone.

gemstone
Demantoid Garnet

Demantoid Garnet

A rare green andradite garnet famed for fire exceeding diamond and distinctive horsetail inclusions in Russian stones.

gemstone
Blood Agate

Blood Agate

A deep red banded agate colored by iron oxides, valued as a vivid red lapidary and jewelry stone.

gemstone