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.

Spiderweb Jasper

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

mineral
Calc-schist

Calc-schist

A foliated metamorphic rock of calcite mixed with mica, quartz, and calc-silicate minerals, derived from marly sediments.

metamorphic

Cobra Jasper

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

mineral

Butterstone Jasper

A soft-toned cream-to-butterscotch jasper colored by iron oxides, prized by lapidaries for its smooth, even, opaque finish.

gemstone
Mica Schist

Mica Schist

A glittery, strongly foliated rock made mostly of aligned mica flakes that split into thin, shiny sheets.

metamorphic

Imperial Jasper

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

mineral
Adinole

Adinole

A fine-grained, sodium-rich contact-metasomatic rock formed where shale is albitized next to intruding diabase or spilite.

metamorphic
Felsite

Felsite

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

igneous
Blue Jasper

Blue Jasper

An opaque blue variety of chalcedony jasper, less common than red or green forms, colored by mineral inclusions.

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
Grossular Garnet

Grossular Garnet

The calcium-aluminum garnet species spanning green tsavorite, cinnamon hessonite, and colorless leuco garnet — one of the most varied garnets.

gemstone
Red Garnet

Red Garnet

The classic deep-red garnet — usually almandine or pyrope — long worn as the fiery 'carbuncle' gem and January's birthstone.

gemstone
Champagne Garnet

Champagne Garnet

A soft brownish-golden garnet named for its champagne color, usually a malaia-type pyrope-spessartine blend prized for warm, neutral tones.

gemstone
Almandine Garnet

Almandine Garnet

The most common garnet, an iron aluminum silicate in deep red to brownish-red hues, used as a gem and an industrial abrasive.

gemstone

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
Lindi Garnet

Lindi Garnet

Lindi Garnet is a rare vanadium-rich color-change garnet from Tanzania's Lindi region, shifting from blue-green daylight tones to purple-red.

gemstone
Pyrope Garnet

Pyrope Garnet

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

gemstone
Strawberry Garnet

Strawberry Garnet

A bright strawberry-red garnet, typically an almandine-pyrope blend prized for its juicy, lively red color in jewelry.

gemstone
Adirondack Garnet

Adirondack Garnet

Adirondack Garnet is large, dark-red almandine from New York's Gore Mountain, the world's most famous industrial garnet abrasive source.

mineral
White Garnet

White Garnet

The rare colorless-to-white grossular garnet, also called leuco garnet, prized by collectors for its purity and unusual lack of color.

gemstone
Honey Garnet

Honey Garnet

A warm golden-brown garnet named for its honey color, typically a hessonite grossular variety with a distinctive treacly internal texture.

gemstone

Malaia Garnet

A pyrope-spessartine garnet in warm peach, salmon, and pinkish-orange tones, originally rejected by dealers and named 'malaia,' Swahili for outcast.

gemstone
Dragon Garnet

Dragon Garnet

A trade name for deep wine-red garnet, typically a rich pyrope-almandine stone marketed for its dramatic, fiery color.

gemstone
Hydrogrossular Garnet

Hydrogrossular Garnet

A water-bearing massive grossular garnet, usually green or pink, widely used as a tough jade-like carving stone.

gemstone