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.

Mali Garnet

Mali Garnet

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

gemstone

Cat's Eye Moonstone

A moonstone variety displaying a moving band of light (chatoyancy) across its surface in addition to the classic moonstone glow.

gemstone

Cat's Eye Labradorite

A labradorite feldspar cut to show a moving band of light (chatoyancy), sometimes combined with labradorescent color flashes.

gemstone

Sesame Jasper

A finely speckled pale jasper trade stone named for its sesame-seed-like flecks, closely related to Kiwi Jasper.

mineral
Anorthosite

Anorthosite

An intrusive igneous rock made almost entirely of plagioclase feldspar, famous as the rock of the lunar highlands.

igneous
Dalmatian Stone

Dalmatian Stone

A cream-colored feldspar-and-quartz rock peppered with dark spots, named for its resemblance to a Dalmatian dog.

igneous
Felsite

Felsite

A general term for light-colored, fine-grained volcanic rocks rich in quartz and feldspar, like rhyolite.

igneous
Greywacke

Greywacke

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

sedimentary
Dalmatian Jasper

Dalmatian Jasper

A cream-colored spotted stone resembling a Dalmatian dog, made of feldspar and quartz dotted with dark mineral grains.

igneous

Rainforest Jasper

An Australian green rhyolite with eye-like orbs and earthy patterns marketed as jasper, evoking dense rainforest foliage.

igneous

Fireworks Obsidian

Black volcanic glass dotted with radiating spherulite bursts that look like exploding fireworks frozen in the stone.

igneous

Kiwi Jasper

A speckled green-and-black stone resembling kiwi fruit, technically a quartz-amazonite aggregate rather than true jasper.

mineral
Leopard Skin Jasper

Leopard Skin Jasper

A spotted jasper-rhyolite patterned with leopard-like rings and ovals, valued as an earthy ornamental and lapidary stone.

sedimentary
Devitrified Obsidian

Devitrified Obsidian

Obsidian that has partly crystallized over time, growing pale spherulite clusters within the black glass, as in snowflake obsidian.

igneous

Peanut Obsidian

Black volcanic glass studded with oval, peanut-shaped grey-white spherulites of radiating crystals frozen in the glass.

igneous
Bohemian Garnet

Bohemian Garnet

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

gemstone
Black Moonstone

Black Moonstone

A dark gray-to-black feldspar variety of moonstone that shows blue and white adularescent flash against a smoky body.

gemstone
Brazilian Agate

Brazilian Agate

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

gemstone
Kersantite

Kersantite

A dark mica lamprophyre with biotite and augite phenocrysts in a plagioclase-dominated groundmass, the feldspar counterpart of minette.

igneous
Spherulitic Obsidian

Spherulitic Obsidian

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

igneous
Spectrolite

Spectrolite

A premium dark Finnish labradorite displaying the full color spectrum of iridescent flashes, prized as one of the most vivid feldspar gems.

gemstone
Ijolite

Ijolite

A coarse-grained, feldspar-free plutonic rock composed mainly of nepheline and sodic pyroxene, the intrusive equivalent of nephelinite.

igneous

Appinite

A group of coarse, water-rich plutonic rocks dominated by large hornblende crystals set in feldspar, intermediate between lamprophyre and diorite.

igneous
Molybdenite

Molybdenite

Molybdenite is the primary ore of molybdenum, a soft, greasy, silver-gray sulfide that closely resembles graphite.

mineral