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.

Garnet Schist

Garnet Schist

A shiny, foliated schist studded with red garnet crystals that grew during medium-grade regional metamorphism.

metamorphic
Bohemian Garnet

Bohemian Garnet

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

gemstone
Flame Jasper

Flame Jasper

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

mineral
Cape Ruby

Cape Ruby

Cape Ruby is a deep red pyrope garnet from South African diamond deposits, prized as an affordable, fiery alternative to ruby.

gemstone
Poppy Jasper

Poppy Jasper

An orbicular jasper with red and orange flower-like spots resembling poppies, famously from Morgan Hill, California.

mineral
Cherry Creek Jasper

Cherry Creek Jasper

A landscape-patterned Chinese jasper prized for warm cherry-red, cream, and green bands resembling painted scenery.

mineral
Montana Garnet

Montana Garnet

Montana Garnet is red almandine recovered from Montana placer gravels, often alongside the state's famous sapphires.

gemstone
Thunderegg Agate

Thunderegg Agate

A nodular rhyolite geode-like ball whose plain exterior hides a star-shaped agate or chalcedony core when cut.

gemstone
Dragon Blood Jasper

Dragon Blood Jasper

A green-and-red ornamental stone of epidote and red piemontite or iron oxide, named for its dragon-skin coloring; not a true jasper.

metamorphic
Strawberry Obsidian

Strawberry Obsidian

A pink-red glass sold as obsidian, sometimes with metallic flecks; the strawberry color is manufactured rather than a natural volcanic glass tone.

igneous
Strawberry Quartz

Strawberry Quartz

A pink-to-red quartz colored by iron oxide inclusions that create a speckled, strawberry-like appearance within clear crystal.

crystal
Bixbyite

Bixbyite

A black metallic manganese iron oxide famous for sharp cubic crystals, classically found with red beryl and topaz in Utah rhyolite.

mineral
Bloodstone

Bloodstone

A dark green chalcedony speckled with blood-red spots of iron oxide, traditionally known as heliotrope.

gemstone
Sapphire

Sapphire

The gem variety of corundum in every color except red, most prized in velvety blue and exceptionally hard and durable.

gemstone
Tiger Iron

Tiger Iron

A banded combination rock of golden tiger's eye, red jasper, and metallic hematite, formed in ancient iron deposits.

metamorphic
Garnet

Garnet

A group of silicate gemstones best known for deep red but spanning nearly every color, including green tsavorite and orange spessartine.

gemstone
Pink Tourmaline

Pink Tourmaline

A pink to red gem variety of elbaite tourmaline, colored by manganese, ranging from soft pastel pink to vivid rubellite red.

gemstone
Hematite

Hematite

The principal iron ore, a heavy iron oxide ranging from metallic silver-gray to earthy red, always leaving a tell-tale red-brown streak.

mineral
Cinnabar

Cinnabar

A bright red mercury sulfide, the chief ore of mercury and the historic source of the pigment vermilion.

mineral
Sunset Tourmaline

Sunset Tourmaline

A warm-hued tourmaline blending orange, pink and red tones reminiscent of a sunset sky.

gemstone
Noreena Jasper

Noreena Jasper

A rare Australian jasper from the Pilbara with bold red, yellow, and black abstract patterns, prized by collectors.

mineral
Kentucky Agate

Kentucky Agate

The official state rock of Kentucky, a banded agate famous for striking deep-red and black fortification patterns.

gemstone
Jaspillite

Jaspillite

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

metamorphic
Sonoran Sunset Jasper

Sonoran Sunset Jasper

A vivid copper-bearing Mexican stone of red cuprite and green chrysocolla that evokes a desert sunset.

mineral