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.

Morrisonite Jasper

A rare, prized Oregon picture jasper known for blue-green orbs and scenic patterns, often called the king of jaspers.

mineral
Poppy Jasper

Poppy Jasper

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

mineral

Cobra Jasper

A banded jasper with cream, tan, and brown layers resembling snakeskin, often sourced from Madagascar.

mineral

Imperial Jasper

A prized Mexican jasper known for pastel green, lavender, and cream orbicular patterns that take an exceptional polish.

mineral

Elephant Skin Jasper

A gray-brown jasper whose mottled, wrinkled patterning resembles elephant hide, also sold as Miriam or calligraphy stone.

mineral
Bruneau Jasper

Bruneau Jasper

A prized Idaho picture jasper from Bruneau Canyon known for brown and cream orbicular egg-rock patterns and scenic landscapes.

mineral

Spiderweb Jasper

A jasper crossed by fine dark veins forming a spiderweb-like network, often a brecciated stone cemented by darker matrix.

mineral
Bloodstone Jasper

Bloodstone Jasper

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

mineral

Noreena Jasper

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

mineral

Polychrome Jasper

A warm earth-toned jasper from Madagascar in flowing reds, oranges and golds, also called desert jasper, discovered in the early 2000s.

gemstone
Menilite Opal

Menilite Opal

An opaque grey-brown common opal forming nodules and concretions, historically called liver opal for its dull brownish color.

mineral
Calcarenite

Calcarenite

Sand-grained limestone composed of carbonate particles such as shell fragments and ooids cemented into a calcite rock.

sedimentary
Suevite

Suevite

A rare breccia formed by meteorite impact, containing shocked rock fragments and glassy melt blobs welded together.

metamorphic
Shelly Limestone

Shelly Limestone

A limestone packed with visible shells and shell fragments, recording the accumulation of marine invertebrate remains on ancient sea floors.

sedimentary
Cataclasite

Cataclasite

A cohesive fault rock formed by brittle crushing and grinding of rock along a fault zone, with angular fragments in a fine matrix.

metamorphic

Syrian Garnet

Syrian Garnet is an old trade name for fine deep-red almandine, historically tied to the Syriam region and prized as 'precious garnet.'

gemstone
Shungite

Shungite

A rare black carbon-rich rock from Russia, noted for containing fullerenes and ranging from dull mineralized stone to lustrous noble shungite.

sedimentary
Orthoclase

Orthoclase

A common rock-forming potassium feldspar, the Mohs hardness reference at 6, found in granites and used in ceramics and glassmaking.

mineral
Spinel

Spinel

A durable magnesium aluminum oxide gem that occurs in many colors and was long mistaken for ruby.

gemstone
Serpentine

Serpentine

A group of green magnesium silicate minerals with a smooth, waxy feel, often carved and sometimes sold as imitation jade.

mineral
Precious Opal

Precious Opal

The classic gem opal that flashes shifting spectral colors, defined by the diffraction effect known as play-of-color.

gemstone
Black Opal

Black Opal

The rarest and most valuable opal, with a dark body tone that makes its flashing rainbow play-of-color blaze brilliantly.

gemstone
White Opal

White Opal

The most common precious opal, with a pale milky body that shows softer pastel flashes of play-of-color throughout.

gemstone
Australian Opal

Australian Opal

Opal from Australia, the world's leading source of precious opal, ranging from white and crystal to prized black and boulder types.

gemstone