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.

Quartzite

Quartzite

An extremely hard metamorphic rock formed from sandstone, made of fused quartz grains that break across rather than between the grains.

metamorphic

Woodbine Jasper

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.

gemstone

Imperial Jasper

A prized Mexican jasper known for pastel green, lavender, and cream orbicular patterns that take an exceptional polish.

mineral

Bird's Eye Jasper

A microcrystalline quartz jasper marked by small concentric ring or eye patterns that resemble the eyes of birds.

mineral

Rogue River Jasper

An Oregon picture jasper from the Rogue River area showing earthy scenic patterns in tan, brown, gold, and cream.

mineral
Madagascar Jasper

Madagascar Jasper

A broad family of vividly patterned jaspers from Madagascar, including orbicular and scenic varieties prized for colorful, eye-catching designs.

gemstone
Greywacke

Greywacke

A hard, dark, poorly sorted sandstone with a muddy matrix, typically deposited by underwater turbidity currents.

sedimentary

Carrasite Jasper

An orbicular Madagascar jasper related to ocean jasper, showing eyes and swirls in cream, green, and earthy tones.

mineral

Morrisonite Jasper

A rare, prized Oregon picture jasper known for blue-green orbs and scenic patterns, often called the king of jaspers.

mineral

Blue Line Jasper

A pale jasper crossed by distinctive blue-gray veins or lines, valued by lapidaries for its calm color contrast.

gemstone

Silver Leaf Jasper

A gray-toned jasper with swirling cream, black, and brown leaf-like patterns, sometimes with druzy or agate pockets.

mineral

Owyhee Blue Jasper

A soft blue-gray jasper from the Owyhee region of Oregon and Idaho, prized for its rare, calming blue tones among earthy jaspers.

gemstone

Royal Imperial Jasper

A premium Mexican imperial jasper showing soft pastel swirls and orbicular eyes in lavender, mint, cream, and rust.

mineral

Hells Canyon Jasper

A warm earth-toned jasper from the Hells Canyon region of the Oregon-Idaho border, prized for brecciated browns, reds, and creams.

gemstone

Lizard Skin Jasper

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

gemstone

Polychrome Jasper

A warm earth-toned jasper from Madagascar in flowing reds, oranges and golds, also called desert jasper, discovered in the early 2000s.

gemstone

Elephant Skin Jasper

A gray-brown jasper whose mottled, wrinkled patterning resembles elephant hide, also sold as Miriam or calligraphy stone.

mineral
Bloodstone Jasper

Bloodstone Jasper

A dark green jasper-chalcedony speckled with red iron-oxide spots, classically known as bloodstone or heliotrope.

mineral
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

Wonderstone

A banded rhyolitic volcanic rock with swirling tan, red, and yellow iron-oxide layers prized as a decorative picture stone.

igneous
Rock Gypsum

Rock Gypsum

A soft sedimentary evaporite made of massive gypsum, deposited when sulfate-rich seawater or lake water evaporates and concentrates.

sedimentary
Rutilated Quartz

Rutilated Quartz

Clear or smoky quartz threaded with golden to reddish needles of rutile, also poetically called Venus hair stone.

crystal
Quartzite Sandstone

Quartzite Sandstone

A tough, quartz-rich sandstone cemented by silica, transitional toward true quartzite but still sedimentary in origin.

sedimentary
Jaspillite

Jaspillite

A banded, metamorphosed iron formation in which bright red jasper alternates with silvery hematite or magnetite layers.

metamorphic