Rock & Mineral Encyclopedia

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

Marble

A metamorphosed limestone of interlocking calcite crystals, prized for sculpture and architecture for its workability and polish.

A pure, translucent white marble from the Greek island of Paros, the preferred stone of ancient sculptors for its waxy glow.

A famous white to blue-grey Italian marble from Carrara, prized for centuries by sculptors and architects for its purity and fine grain.

A fractured fine-grained limestone whose iron-stained crack networks form natural scenes resembling ruined cities and landscapes.

A green ornamental stone, often serpentine-rich marble or verde antique, valued for its rich green color and white veining.

A marbled, abstractly patterned stone resembling modern art, technically a metamorphosed limestone rather than a true silica jasper.

A black-and-white striped chalcedony-quartz rock whose bold zebra-like banding makes it a popular ornamental and lapidary stone.

A banded, porous limestone deposited by mineral springs, prized as a warm-toned natural building and tile stone.

A fossiliferous limestone built largely from the disc-shaped skeletal plates of crinoids, marine animals known as sea lilies.

A soft, fine-grained, porous white limestone made largely of microscopic calcareous plankton skeletons, the rock that forms classic white cliffs.

A soft, white, fine-grained limestone made almost entirely of microscopic marine plankton skeletons.

A feldspar gem famous for adularescence, a floating blue-white glow that shimmers across the stone like moonlight.

A creamy pink-and-white chalcedony from Madagascar containing flower-like plume inclusions that resemble blossoms suspended in stone.

A white chalcedony filled with green or black dendritic, tree-like mineral inclusions that resemble ferns or moss frozen in stone.