Rock & Mineral Encyclopedia

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

Komatiite

A rare, ancient ultramafic volcanic rock formed from extremely hot magma, famous for its spinifex texture.

Small, smooth, teardrop-shaped beads of basaltic volcanic glass formed from airborne lava droplets, often paired with Pele's hair.

Green-tinted volcanic glass; some is naturally colored by trace iron, but vivid emerald-green pieces are usually manufactured glass.

An organic gem formed inside mollusks from layered nacre, prized for its iridescent luster and classic elegance.

The green variety of tourmaline, also called verdelite, ranging from bright grass green to deep forest tones colored by iron.

A group of green magnesium silicate minerals with a smooth, waxy feel, often carved and sometimes sold as imitation jade.

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

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

Black volcanic glass that flashes a green sheen at certain angles due to light interference off aligned microscopic inclusions.

A soft, fine-grained red metamorphosed claystone, sacred to many Native American peoples and carved into ceremonial pipes.

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

An African picture jasper from the Kalahari region with warm desert-toned banding evoking dunes and savanna.

A soft, green iron-potassium mica that forms in marine sediments and gives greensand its characteristic olive color.

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

An Oregon jasper, also called larsonite, of silicified fossil wood showing olive-green fields laced with black dendritic patterns.