Rock & Mineral Encyclopedia

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

Coquina

A soft, porous limestone made of loosely cemented shell and coral fragments, used as a coastal building stone.

A limestone packed with visible shells and shell fragments, recording the accumulation of marine invertebrate remains on ancient sea floors.

Sand-grained limestone composed of carbonate particles such as shell fragments and ooids cemented into a calcite rock.

A calcium carbonate mineral and polymorph of calcite, aragonite forms distinctive needle clusters, sea shells, and pearls.

Calcium-carbonate sedimentary rock packed with visible fossils, recording ancient marine life within an easily scratched, fizzing matrix.

An organic gem formed inside mollusks from layered nacre, prized for its iridescent luster and classic elegance.