Rock & Mineral Encyclopedia

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

Orange Calcite

A soft, glowing orange variety of calcite colored by iron oxides, popular as tumbled stones and known for fizzing in acid.

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

A striking lead chromate mineral prized for its brilliant orange-red prismatic crystals, with the finest specimens from Tasmania.

A rare calcium-rich lithium tourmaline famous for the spectacular concentric color zoning seen in polished cross-section slices.

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

A black volcanic glass threaded with delicate grey, swirling lace-like bands of flow lines that show beautifully when polished.

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

An earthy-toned jasper with vine-like or scenic patterning, valued by lapidaries for warm browns, reds, and creams that polish to a smooth finish.

A warmly colored chalcedony agate with reds, oranges, golds, and pinks that blend like the glowing bands of a sunset sky.

A chalcedony agate with red, orange, and yellow plume or banding patterns that rise like dancing flames within the stone.

A fiery jasper whose red, orange, and yellow plumes lick across the stone like flames against an earthy background.

An orbicular jasper with red and orange flower-like spots resembling poppies, famously from Morgan Hill, California.