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.

Cleavelandite

Cleavelandite

A striking platy, blade-like variety of albite feldspar that grows in fanned aggregates of thin white crystals within granite pegmatites.

mineral
Metaconglomerate

Metaconglomerate

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

metamorphic
Fenite

Fenite

A metasomatic rock formed when alkali-rich fluids from carbonatite or alkaline intrusions transform surrounding country rock.

metamorphic
Tourmaline Schist

Tourmaline Schist

A foliated schist threaded with black tourmaline (schorl) needles, marking boron-rich metamorphic or metasomatic conditions.

metamorphic
Calc-Silicate Rock

Calc-Silicate Rock

A metamorphic rock of calcium-rich silicate minerals formed from impure limestone or dolomite altered by heat and fluids.

metamorphic
Rhodochrosite

Rhodochrosite

Rhodochrosite is a rose-pink manganese carbonate prized for raspberry-red crystals and banded pink-and-white gem material.

gemstone
Staurolite Schist

Staurolite Schist

A mica schist studded with brown staurolite porphyroblasts, sometimes forming the cross-shaped twins known as fairy stones.

metamorphic

Sunset Agate

A warmly colored chalcedony agate with reds, oranges, golds, and pinks that blend like the glowing bands of a sunset sky.

gemstone

Regency Rose Agate

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

gemstone

Woodward Ranch Agate

Plume and fortification agate from the famous Woodward Ranch near Alpine, Texas, known for red and pink plumes.

gemstone
Ruby in Zoisite

Ruby in Zoisite

A striking rock of green zoisite studded with red-pink ruby crystals and black hornblende, also called anyolite.

metamorphic

Carey Plume Agate

A prized plume agate from near Carey, Idaho, showing red, pink and black feathery plumes floating in translucent chalcedony.

gemstone
Imperial Garnet

Imperial Garnet

A trade name for high-brilliance golden grossular-andradite (grandite) garnet, most associated with the Mali deposits of West Africa.

gemstone
Mali Garnet

Mali Garnet

A rare grossular-andradite blend ('grandite') from Mali, prized for its high brilliance and golden-green to yellow color.

gemstone
Bohemian Garnet

Bohemian Garnet

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

gemstone
Brazilian Agate

Brazilian Agate

Abundant banded chalcedony from southern Brazil, the world's main source of agate slices and dyed agate products.

gemstone
Strawberry Garnet

Strawberry Garnet

A bright strawberry-red garnet, typically an almandine-pyrope blend prized for its juicy, lively red color in jewelry.

gemstone

Peach Opal

A gentle peach-to-apricot opal, mostly common opal colored by trace iron, prized for its soft warm pastel body.

gemstone

Flame Opal

A glowing orange-to-red opal whose warm body color resembles flame; some stones add flashes of play-of-color.

gemstone

Apricot Tourmaline

A warm apricot to peachy orange-pink elbaite tourmaline colored mainly by manganese, prized for its soft, glowing warmth.

gemstone

Malaia Garnet

A pyrope-spessartine garnet in warm peach, salmon, and pinkish-orange tones, originally rejected by dealers and named 'malaia,' Swahili for outcast.

gemstone
Peach Garnet

Peach Garnet

A soft peach to pinkish-orange garnet, usually a malaia-type pyrope-spessartine blend prized for its warm, delicate color.

gemstone
Fire Opal

Fire Opal

A translucent to transparent opal in warm yellow, orange, and red tones, prized for body color rather than play-of-color.

gemstone
Proustite

Proustite

A scarlet-red silver arsenic sulfide known as light ruby silver, a striking but light-sensitive ore that darkens on exposure.

mineral