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.

Pink Lady Obsidian

Obsidian showing a pink-to-rose sheen or hue; natural examples get color from interference effects, while uniform pink material is often manufactured glass.

igneous

Double Flow Obsidian

Obsidian formed from two merged lava flows, producing a stone with two distinct bands of sheen or color.

igneous
Pumice

Pumice

A frothy, lightweight volcanic glass so full of gas bubbles that it can float on water.

igneous
Spherulitic Obsidian

Spherulitic Obsidian

Obsidian containing spherulites — small radiating spheres of feldspar and cristobalite that crystallized within the cooling volcanic glass.

igneous

Matte Obsidian

Obsidian with a dull, non-reflective surface from natural weathering or deliberate sandblasting/etching, rather than a distinct type of volcanic glass.

igneous
Purple Obsidian

Purple Obsidian

Purple-colored volcanic glass; genuine natural purple obsidian is rare, with much purple obsidian being manufactured colored glass.

crystal
Tanzanite

Tanzanite

A blue-violet zoisite found only in Tanzania, famous for its vivid trichroic color and rarity.

gemstone

Frosted Obsidian

Natural obsidian with a frosted, matte surface produced by weathering, abrasion, or etching rather than a separate variety of glass.

igneous
Moldavite

Moldavite

A rare forest-green natural glass formed by a meteorite impact about 15 million years ago, found mainly in the Czech Republic.

gemstone
Ignimbrite

Ignimbrite

A rock formed from hot pyroclastic flows, often welded, sometimes containing flattened glass lenses called fiamme.

igneous
Smithsonite

Smithsonite

Smithsonite is a zinc carbonate ore famous for glassy botryoidal crusts in blue-green, pink, and yellow hues.

mineral
Anorthoclase

Anorthoclase

A sodium-rich alkali feldspar of sodic volcanic rocks, sometimes forming large glassy crystals and the blue-flashing feldspar in larvikite.

mineral