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.

Lemon Quartz

Lemon Quartz

A vivid greenish-yellow quartz, usually heat-treated or irradiated, prized for its clean clarity and bright lemon color.

crystal
Dumortierite Quartz

Dumortierite Quartz

Quartz colored blue by inclusions of the mineral dumortierite, giving a denim-like blue ornamental stone harder than dumortierite alone.

gemstone
Quartz Schist

Quartz Schist

A foliated metamorphic rock dominated by quartz with enough mica to give it a schistose, splitting fabric.

metamorphic
Snow Quartz

Snow Quartz

An opaque, snow-white variety of quartz whose milky color comes from countless tiny gas and fluid inclusions.

crystal
Girasol Quartz

Girasol Quartz

A translucent milky quartz that shows a soft, floating blue-white glow when light passes through it.

crystal
Garden Quartz

Garden Quartz

Clear quartz filled with mineral inclusions that look like underwater gardens, mossy landscapes, or floating scenery.

crystal
Rose Tourmaline

Rose Tourmaline

A soft to medium pink elbaite tourmaline in rose hues, colored by manganese and prized for romantic jewelry.

gemstone

Lemurian Seed Quartz

Clear quartz crystals marked by distinctive horizontal ladder-like striations, popularized from Brazil as a metaphysical stone.

crystal
Golden Healer Quartz

Golden Healer Quartz

Quartz colored or coated by golden iron oxides such as limonite or goethite, giving a warm sunlit yellow glow.

crystal
Quartz-mica Schist

Quartz-mica Schist

A foliated metamorphic rock of interlayered quartz and mica, producing a sparkling, easily split rock from metamorphosed sandy shales.

metamorphic
Morganite Crystal

Morganite Crystal

The natural crystal form of morganite, the manganese-colored pink-to-peach variety of beryl popular in romantic jewelry.

crystal
Pink Agate

Pink Agate

A soft pink banded chalcedony, occurring naturally in delicate hues and also commonly produced by dyeing.

gemstone
Desert Rose

Desert Rose

A rosette-shaped cluster of bladed gypsum or barite crystals that traps sand, forming flower-like formations in arid deserts.

mineral

Regency Rose Agate

A prized plume agate with rose-pink and red feathery inclusions suspended in clear chalcedony, from the western U.S.

gemstone
Pink Emerald

Pink Emerald

A trade name sometimes used for pink beryl (morganite), the manganese-colored rose-to-peach variety of the emerald mineral.

gemstone

Pink Obsidian

A pink to rose volcanic glass; some is natural iron-tinted obsidian while much sold commercially is color-treated glass.

igneous
Pink Beryl

Pink Beryl

The pink to peach variety of beryl, better known as morganite, colored by manganese and prized for its gentle pastel hues.

gemstone

Pink Lady Obsidian

Obsidian showing a pink-to-rose sheen or hue; natural examples get color from interference effects, while uniform pink material is often manufactured glass.

igneous
Pink Tourmaline

Pink Tourmaline

A pink to red gem variety of elbaite tourmaline, colored by manganese, ranging from soft pastel pink to vivid rubellite red.

gemstone
Pink Garnet

Pink Garnet

A trade name for pink garnets, mainly rhodolite, a rose-to-purplish pyrope-almandine blend prized for its bright clean color.

gemstone

Pink Opal

A soft pink common opal, most famously from Peru, valued for its gentle pastel color rather than play-of-color.

gemstone
Amethyst

Amethyst

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

crystal
Herkimer Diamond

Herkimer Diamond

Exceptionally clear, naturally double-terminated quartz crystals from Herkimer County, New York, prized for their diamond-like brilliance.

crystal
Thulite

Thulite

A pink, manganese-rich variety of zoisite used as an ornamental gemstone, often mottled with white quartz and grey matrix.

gemstone