Rock & Mineral Encyclopedia

Search and identify 1,000+ rocks, minerals, crystals, and gemstones — with properties, formation, colors, hardness, and how to tell them apart.

Yowah Nut Opal

Small ironstone concretions from Yowah, Queensland, whose hollow or veined centers hold brilliant precious boulder opal.

Boulder opal from the Koroit field in Queensland, famous for intricate ironstone matrix patterns laced with colorful precious opal.

Precious opal that forms in thin veins within brown ironstone boulders, cut with the host rock left as a natural dark backing.

Boulder opal from the Quilpie district of Queensland, Australia, with bright color set in dark ironstone matrix.

A soft, fine-grained red metamorphosed claystone, sacred to many Native American peoples and carved into ceremonial pipes.