Rock & Mineral Encyclopedia

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

Snakeskin Jasper

An opaque patterned jasper named for its scaly, snakeskin-like surface markings of interlocking tan and brown cells.

A banded jasper showing parallel ribbon-like stripes of contrasting color formed by layered silica and mineral deposition.

An earthy-toned jasper with vine-like or scenic patterning, valued by lapidaries for warm browns, reds, and creams that polish to a smooth finish.

A pale jasper threaded with black, fern-like mineral dendrites that mimic plants, trees, and frost despite being inorganic.

A fiery jasper whose red, orange, and yellow plumes lick across the stone like flames against an earthy background.

A patterned jasper whose scaly, net-like markings recall reptile skin, popular with lapidaries for its organic camouflage look.

Beryl displaying chatoyancy, a bright moving band of light, caused by parallel tube-like inclusions when cut as a cabochon.

A vivid green chromium-bearing diopside, an affordable emerald-like gem mined largely in Siberia.

A precious opal showing dominant peacock-like blue, green and teal play-of-color, often on Ethiopian material.

A white chalcedony filled with green or black dendritic, tree-like mineral inclusions that resemble ferns or moss frozen in stone.

A water-bearing massive grossular garnet, usually green or pink, widely used as a tough jade-like carving stone.

A sought-after elbaite tourmaline in teal hues that blend blue and green, prized for its ocean-like color.

A translucent yellow-green silicate famous for its botryoidal 'grape' clusters, often hosting needle-like sprays of black epidote.

An intensely green tourmaline colored by chromium and vanadium, prized for its vivid emerald-like color from East Africa.

An opal cut to show chatoyancy, a sharp moving band of light like a cat's eye, usually in honey, green or yellow common opal.