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.

Ruin Marble

Ruin Marble

A fractured fine-grained limestone whose iron-stained crack networks form natural scenes resembling ruined cities and landscapes.

sedimentary

Wonderstone

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

igneous
Dendritic Opal

Dendritic Opal

A common opal with branching, tree-like mineral inclusions that create natural fern, moss, or landscape patterns.

gemstone
Demantoid Garnet

Demantoid Garnet

A rare green andradite garnet famed for fire exceeding diamond and distinctive horsetail inclusions in Russian stones.

gemstone
Black Garnet

Black Garnet

An opaque black garnet — typically titanium-bearing melanite andradite — historically cut for mourning and Victorian jewelry.

gemstone
Dark Green Tourmaline

Dark Green Tourmaline

Deeply saturated green tourmaline colored by iron, often so dark it appears nearly black until viewed in bright light.

gemstone
Indicolite

Indicolite

The blue variety of tourmaline, a relatively rare and prized color ranging from teal and greenish blue to deep indigo.

gemstone
Nephrite

Nephrite

One of the two jade minerals, an amphibole prized for its extreme toughness and soft, waxy green hues used in carving for millennia.

gemstone
Blue Tourmaline

Blue Tourmaline

Tourmaline in blue tones, encompassing iron-colored indicolite and the rare neon copper-bearing Paraiba, among the scarcer tourmaline colors.

gemstone
Sugilite

Sugilite

A rare deep-purple manganese-bearing silicate, mostly from South Africa, prized for its vivid violet color.

mineral
Bohemian Garnet

Bohemian Garnet

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

gemstone

Arizona Ruby

Arizona Ruby is a chromium-rich pyrope garnet from Arizona, often gathered from anthills, valued for its intense ruby-like red.

gemstone
Ant Hill Garnet

Ant Hill Garnet

Small, bright chrome-pyrope garnets famously brought to the surface by harvester ants on the Navajo lands of Arizona.

gemstone
Glauconite

Glauconite

A soft, green iron-potassium mica that forms in marine sediments and gives greensand its characteristic olive color.

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
Orange Tourmaline

Orange Tourmaline

A warm orange to tangerine tourmaline, an uncommon hue produced by manganese and iron in the crystal.

gemstone

Knorringite

A chromium-rich magnesium garnet of the pyrope series that crystallizes in the deep mantle and is a valuable diamond indicator mineral.

mineral
Mozambique Garnet

Mozambique Garnet

An abundant, brightly colored pyrope-almandine garnet from East Africa, valued for its clean, raspberry-to-red gems at accessible prices.

gemstone

Bekily Garnet

A rare color-change garnet from Bekily, Madagascar, shifting from bluish-green in daylight to purplish-red under warm light, including the famed blue garnets.

gemstone
Dendritic Agate

Dendritic Agate

A translucent chalcedony decorated with branching, fern-like manganese or iron oxide inclusions resembling tiny plants.

mineral
Brown Obsidian

Brown Obsidian

Obsidian colored brown by iron oxide inclusions, frequently banded or swirled with black as in mahogany obsidian.

igneous
Amethyst

Amethyst

The purple variety of quartz, colored by iron and natural irradiation, prized as the classic violet birthstone of February.

crystal
Bloodstone

Bloodstone

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

gemstone
Bloodstone Jasper

Bloodstone Jasper

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

mineral