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.

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
Imperial Garnet

Imperial Garnet

A trade name for high-brilliance golden grossular-andradite (grandite) garnet, most associated with the Mali deposits of West Africa.

gemstone
Mali Garnet

Mali Garnet

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

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
Khondalite

Khondalite

A high-grade metamorphic gneiss of garnet, sillimanite, quartz, and graphite, derived from ancient aluminous sediments.

metamorphic
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
Outback Jasper

Outback Jasper

An earthy Australian-style jasper in red, ochre, and yellow tones evoking the colors of the Outback desert.

mineral
Carver Agate

Carver Agate

A collectible Oregon plume and scenic agate with feathery red and gold inclusions suspended in translucent chalcedony.

gemstone
Rhodochrosite

Rhodochrosite

Rhodochrosite is a rose-pink manganese carbonate prized for raspberry-red crystals and banded pink-and-white gem material.

gemstone
Pyrope Garnet

Pyrope Garnet

The magnesium-rich garnet famed for its intense blood-red 'fire,' historically the Bohemian garnet of Victorian jewelry.

gemstone
Flame Agate

Flame Agate

A chalcedony agate with red, orange, and yellow plume or banding patterns that rise like dancing flames within the stone.

gemstone
Condor Agate

Condor Agate

A vividly banded fortification agate from Argentina prized for its bold red, gold and white concentric patterns.

gemstone
Sard

Sard

A brownish-red to deep brown variety of chalcedony, closely related to carnelian but darker, colored by iron oxides.

mineral
Staurolite-mica Schist

Staurolite-mica Schist

A mica schist studded with red-brown staurolite porphyroblasts, including the famous cross-shaped twins called fairy stones.

metamorphic
Pyralspite Garnet

Pyralspite Garnet

Pyralspite is the aluminum garnet series uniting pyrope, almandine, and spessartine, covering most red, orange, and purple gem garnets.

mineral
Mookaite Jasper

Mookaite Jasper

An Australian silicified radiolarite jasper in warm mustard, red, burgundy, and cream earth tones, found only in Western Australia.

sedimentary