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.

Garnierite

Garnierite

A vivid green hydrous nickel-magnesium silicate that is a major ore of nickel, mined from weathered ultramafic rocks.

mineral
Greenstone

Greenstone

A general field term for green, low-grade metamorphosed basaltic rocks colored by chlorite, epidote, and actinolite.

metamorphic

Teal Obsidian

A deep teal glass sold as obsidian; the saturated blue-green color is manufactured and not found in natural volcanic glass.

igneous

Riband Agate

A banded chalcedony with straight, ribbon-like parallel layers, often cut across the bands for striking striped cabochons.

gemstone
Moldavite

Moldavite

A rare forest-green natural glass formed by a meteorite impact about 15 million years ago, found mainly in the Czech Republic.

gemstone
Peridot

Peridot

The gem-quality green variety of olivine, peridot is colored by iron and is one of the few gems found in only one color.

gemstone
Kyanite

Kyanite

A bladed aluminosilicate famous for having two very different hardnesses depending on the direction you scratch it.

mineral
Willemite

Willemite

A zinc silicate famous for its brilliant green fluorescence under shortwave UV light, especially from Franklin, New Jersey.

mineral
Epidosite

Epidosite

A hard, pistachio-green rock composed mainly of epidote and quartz, formed by hydrothermal alteration of mafic rocks.

metamorphic

Carey Plume Agate

A prized plume agate from near Carey, Idaho, showing red, pink and black feathery plumes floating in translucent chalcedony.

gemstone
Prehnite

Prehnite

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

mineral
Indicolite

Indicolite

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

gemstone
Turritella Agate

Turritella Agate

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

sedimentary
Chrome Chalcedony

Chrome Chalcedony

A vivid green chalcedony colored by chromium, often called mtorolite, resembling chrysoprase but owing its color to chromium rather than nickel.

gemstone
Demantoid Garnet

Demantoid Garnet

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

gemstone
Emerald

Emerald

The green chromium- and vanadium-colored variety of beryl, one of the four classic precious gemstones renowned for its rich green color.

gemstone
Aventurine

Aventurine

A translucent quartz speckled with glittery mineral inclusions that produce a shimmering aventurescence, most often green.

crystal
Titanite

Titanite

A calcium titanium silicate, gem-known as sphene, famous for fiery dispersion that exceeds diamond and rich green-to-yellow colors.

gemstone
Andradite Garnet

Andradite Garnet

The calcium-iron garnet species, ranging from brilliant green demantoid to golden topazolite and jet-black melanite.

gemstone
Chrome-Dravite

Chrome-Dravite

A chromium-dominant tourmaline related to dravite, producing intensely deep green to blackish-green crystals from chromium-rich metamorphic rocks.

mineral
Emerald Crystal

Emerald Crystal

The natural crystalline form of emerald, the prized green chromium-and-vanadium variety of beryl and the May birthstone.

crystal

Owyhee Blue Agate

A soft sky-blue chalcedony from the Owyhee region of Oregon and Idaho, prized for its calming, opaque powder-blue color.

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
Chrome Diopside

Chrome Diopside

A vivid green chromium-bearing diopside, an affordable emerald-like gem mined largely in Siberia.

gemstone