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.

Websterite

Websterite

A variety of pyroxenite composed of both orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene with little olivine, found in layered intrusions and the mantle.

igneous

Kerimasite

A zirconium-rich garnet related to kimzeyite, formed in carbonatites and skarns, named after the Kerimasi volcano in Tanzania.

mineral

Iridescent Obsidian

A black volcanic glass that displays shifting rainbow or metallic sheen from microscopic nanoparticle layers trapped inside.

igneous

Knorringite

A chromium-rich magnesium garnet of the pyrope series that crystallizes in the deep mantle and is a valuable diamond indicator mineral.

mineral
Metaconglomerate

Metaconglomerate

A conglomerate altered by heat and pressure, often with its rounded pebbles stretched and flattened into elongated lenses.

metamorphic
Mexican Fire Opal

Mexican Fire Opal

A transparent to translucent opal prized for its glowing orange-to-red body color, mined chiefly in the volcanic highlands of Mexico.

gemstone
Povondraite

Povondraite

A rare ferric-iron-dominant tourmaline that forms in oxidized evaporite settings, appearing as black to red-brown prismatic crystals.

mineral
Bohemian Garnet

Bohemian Garnet

Small, intensely red chrome-pyrope garnets from the Czech Bohemian region, famous for densely set antique Victorian jewelry.

gemstone
Tactite

Tactite

A contact-metasomatic calc-silicate rock, essentially a skarn, formed where intrusions react with carbonate rocks and often host ore.

metamorphic
Silver Sheen Obsidian

Silver Sheen Obsidian

Black volcanic glass displaying a silvery shimmer from light reflecting off aligned microscopic gas bubbles trapped in the obsidian.

crystal

Particolored Tourmaline

A tourmaline displaying two or more distinct colors in a single crystal, prized for natural color zoning like watermelon and bicolor stones.

gemstone