Rock & Mineral Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ rocks, minerals, crystals, and gemstones — with properties, formation, colors, hardness, and how to tell them apart.
Aventurine
A translucent quartz speckled with glittery mineral inclusions that produce a shimmering aventurescence, most often green.
crystal
Green Aventurine
A green quartz speckled with shimmering fuchsite mica that produces a glittering aventurescence, popular as an affordable ornamental stone.
mineral
Aventurine Feldspar
A feldspar, better known as sunstone, that sparkles with metallic glints from tiny mineral platelets, an effect called aventurescence.
gemstone
Blue Quartz
A naturally blue quartz colored by tiny mineral inclusions such as dumortierite or scattered rutile and tourmaline fibers.
crystal
Brown Jasper
An opaque earth-toned jasper colored brown by iron oxides, ranging from pale tan to deep chocolate.
mineral
Lotus Jasper
A softly patterned jasper in cream, gray, and tan whose markings can suggest lotus petals, popular for calm, neutral-toned jewelry.
gemstone
Brown Obsidian
Obsidian colored brown by iron oxide inclusions, frequently banded or swirled with black as in mahogany obsidian.
igneous
Blue Goldstone
A man-made glittering glass colored deep blue with cobalt and studded with tiny copper crystals that mimic a starry night sky.
gemstone
Sunstone
A feldspar gemstone that sparkles with metallic glints (aventurescence) caused by tiny reflective copper or hematite platelets.
gemstone
Tanzanite
A blue-violet zoisite found only in Tanzania, famous for its vivid trichroic color and rarity.
gemstone
Oligoclase
A sodium-rich plagioclase feldspar between albite and andesine, parent of aventurescent sunstone and the bluish gem peristerite.
mineral
Oregon Sunstone
A copper-bearing labradorite feldspar from Oregon, famous for its range of natural colors and glittery aventurescent copper schiller.
gemstone
Goldstone
A man-made glittering glass packed with tiny copper crystals, traditionally reddish-brown but also made in blue and green.
crystal
Champagne Tourmaline
A soft brown to golden-brown tourmaline with warm, neutral tones reminiscent of sparkling champagne.
gemstone
Tantalite
A dense black iron-manganese tantalate that is the chief ore of tantalum, forming a series with columbite and mined as coltan.
mineral
White Obsidian
A pale, partly crystallized volcanic glass; genuinely white obsidian is uncommon and usually reflects devitrification or spherulitic growth in the glass.
igneous
Tangerine Obsidian
A vivid orange glass sold as obsidian; uniformly bright tangerine material is typically manufactured glass rather than natural volcanic obsidian.
igneous
Tangerine Quartz
Clear quartz coated with orange-red hematite, giving points a vivid tangerine color, mainly from Brazil.
crystal
Particolored Tourmaline
A tourmaline displaying two or more distinct colors in a single crystal, prized for natural color zoning like watermelon and bicolor stones.
gemstone
Tangerine Tourmaline
A vivid tangerine-orange elbaite tourmaline colored by manganese, offering a bright, citrusy hue that is uncommon in tourmaline.
gemstone
Tri-Color Tourmaline
Tourmaline displaying three distinct color zones in a single crystal, a striking natural result of changing growth chemistry.
gemstone
Bi-Color Tourmaline
Tourmaline displaying two distinct colors in a single crystal, a natural color-zoning effect that makes each stone unique.
gemstone
Color Change Garnet
A rare garnet that dramatically shifts color from greenish in daylight to reddish under lamplight, rivaling alexandrite.
gemstone
Color-Change Tourmaline
A rare tourmaline that visibly changes color between daylight and incandescent light, similar to the alexandrite effect.
gemstone