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.

Septarian Concretion

Septarian Concretion

A rounded sedimentary nodule cracked internally and filled with veins of yellow calcite, prized for its striking dragon-skin patterning.

sedimentary

Wonderstone

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

igneous
Tiger's Eye

Tiger's Eye

A golden-brown chatoyant quartz with a shimmering silky band of light, formed when quartz replaces fibrous crocidolite.

gemstone

Mocha Agate

A pale translucent chalcedony threaded with brown-black manganese and iron dendrites that mimic tiny ferns, mosses or landscapes.

gemstone
Turritella Agate

Turritella Agate

A brown fossiliferous chalcedony packed with spiral freshwater snail shells, technically agatized fossil rock from Wyoming.

sedimentary

Snakeskin Jasper

An opaque patterned jasper named for its scaly, snakeskin-like surface markings of interlocking tan and brown cells.

mineral
Moss Agate

Moss Agate

A translucent chalcedony filled with green or brown dendritic mineral inclusions that resemble moss, foliage, or landscapes.

gemstone
Siderite

Siderite

Siderite is an iron carbonate ore, a brown rhombohedral mineral of the calcite group found in sediments and veins.

mineral
Pietersite

Pietersite

A brecciated, chatoyant quartz with swirling blue, gold, and brown fibers that shimmer like a stormy sky.

gemstone

Spiderweb Obsidian

Black volcanic glass crossed by a fine network of grey or brown veins that resemble a spider's web.

igneous
Fire Opal

Fire Opal

A translucent to transparent opal in warm yellow, orange, and red tones, prized for body color rather than play-of-color.

gemstone

Flame Jasper

A fiery jasper whose red, orange, and yellow plumes lick across the stone like flames against an earthy background.

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

Royal Sahara Jasper

A warm desert-toned picture jasper trade stone with sandy tan, gold, and brown swirls evoking Saharan dunes.

mineral

Rogue River Jasper

An Oregon picture jasper from the Rogue River area showing earthy scenic patterns in tan, brown, gold, and cream.

mineral
Biggs Jasper

Biggs Jasper

A classic Oregon picture jasper showing layered tan, brown, and blue-grey scenes resembling desert landscapes and canyons.

mineral

Pigeon Blood Agate

A richly colored red banded agate prized by lapidaries for its deep crimson-to-brown tones reminiscent of pigeon's blood.

gemstone
Brecciated Jasper

Brecciated Jasper

A jasper made of angular fragments naturally cemented back together, typically showing red and brown pieces in a quartz matrix.

sedimentary
Apache Tears

Apache Tears

Rounded nodules of translucent obsidian, named after a Native American legend, that glow smoky brown when held to light.

igneous
Prehnite

Prehnite

A translucent yellow-green silicate famous for its botryoidal 'grape' clusters, often hosting needle-like sprays of black epidote.

mineral
Fire Agate

Fire Agate

A rare brown chalcedony containing thin iron-oxide layers that produce flashing, fiery rainbow iridescence like trapped flames.

gemstone
Feruvite

Feruvite

A calcium- and ferrous-iron-rich tourmaline, the iron analogue of uvite, forming dark brown to black crystals in skarns and metamorphic rocks.

mineral
Mookaite

Mookaite

A vivid Australian jasper-like silica stone in earthy reds, yellows, and purples, formed from silicified radiolarian sediment.

mineral
Ocean Jasper

Ocean Jasper

A multicolored orbicular chalcedony from Madagascar famous for its circular eye-like orbs in greens, pinks, whites, and yellows.

sedimentary