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.

Mustard Tourmaline

Mustard Tourmaline

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

gemstone
Canary Tourmaline

Canary Tourmaline

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

gemstone
Aventurine

Aventurine

A translucent quartz speckled with glittery mineral inclusions that produce a shimmering aventurescence, most often green.

crystal
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
Mustard Jasper

Mustard Jasper

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

gemstone
White Garnet

White Garnet

The rare colorless-to-white grossular garnet, also called leuco garnet, prized by collectors for its purity and unusual lack of color.

gemstone
Lemon Opal

Lemon Opal

A bright lemon-yellow opal, usually common opal, valued for its cheerful citrus color and translucent glow.

gemstone
Serpentinite

Serpentinite

A green, often mottled metamorphic rock formed by the hydration of mantle rocks, soft and waxy with a smooth, slippery feel.

metamorphic
Green Aventurine

Green Aventurine

A green quartz speckled with shimmering fuchsite mica that produces a glittering aventurescence, popular as an affordable ornamental stone.

mineral
Verdite

Verdite

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

metamorphic
Charoite

Charoite

A rare swirling lilac-to-violet silicate found only in Siberia, prized for its fibrous, chatoyant purple patterns.

mineral
Golden Beryl

Golden Beryl

The pure golden-yellow gem variety of beryl, colored by iron and valued for its clarity, brilliance, and durability.

gemstone
Chrysoprase

Chrysoprase

A translucent apple-green chalcedony colored by nickel, the most prized green variety of the quartz family.

gemstone
Golden Emerald

Golden Emerald

A trade name occasionally used for golden-yellow beryl (golden beryl or heliodor), the iron-colored yellow variety of the emerald mineral.

gemstone
Topazolite Garnet

Topazolite Garnet

A rare yellow to golden variety of andradite garnet, the topaz-colored cousin of green demantoid, prized for high dispersion and brilliance.

gemstone
Limonite

Limonite

Limonite is an amorphous brown iron oxide ore, the rust-colored material behind ochre pigments and bog iron.

mineral
Leopard Obsidian

Leopard Obsidian

Black volcanic glass marked with rounded spots and patches that resemble a leopard's coat, caused by spherulitic crystallization.

igneous
Amazonite

Amazonite

The blue-green gem variety of microcline feldspar, often mottled with white, prized as an affordable ornamental stone.

mineral
Leopard Opal

Leopard Opal

A patterned common opal with mottled, leopard-like spots and blotches, prized as an ornamental and cabochon stone.

gemstone
Mariposite

Mariposite

A green, gold-associated metamorphic rock made of chrome-rich mica and quartz, named for Mariposa County in California's gold country.

metamorphic
Heliodor

Heliodor

The golden-yellow gem variety of beryl, colored by iron, prized for its bright sunshine hue and excellent durability.

gemstone
Carnotite

Carnotite

A bright yellow, radioactive potassium uranyl vanadate that is a major ore of both uranium and vanadium.

mineral
Calaverite

Calaverite

A brass- to silver-yellow gold telluride that is a major gold ore, famous from Cripple Creek and Kalgoorlie.

mineral
Wulfenite

Wulfenite

A lead molybdate mineral famous for thin, brilliant orange to yellow tabular crystals, prized by collectors and an ore of molybdenum.

mineral