Rock & Mineral Encyclopedia

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

Leopard Obsidian

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

A fine-grained, intermediate volcanic rock common at subduction-zone volcanoes, between basalt and rhyolite in composition.

A dark, dense metamorphic rock dominated by hornblende and plagioclase, formed by medium- to high-grade metamorphism of basalt.

A lithified glacial till, a poorly sorted rock of mixed boulders, pebbles and fine matrix that records ancient glaciations.

A chalcedony agate marked by round, concentric ring patterns that resemble eyes when cut and polished.

Limestone built from tiny rounded ooid grains resembling fish roe, formed in warm, agitated shallow seas.

A rare agate that forms naturally with flat polygonal faces and angular geometric shapes rather than the usual rounded nodule.

Glacially deposited banded agates found along Lake Michigan beaches, small waterworn pebbles with concentric red and grey banding.

Glacially transported banded agates found along Lake Huron's shores, typically small, frosted pebbles with red-orange iron banding.

A depleted mantle peridotite of olivine and orthopyroxene, the refractory residue left after basaltic melt is extracted from the mantle.

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

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