Rock & Mineral Encyclopedia

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

Staurolite Schist

A mica schist studded with brown staurolite porphyroblasts, sometimes forming the cross-shaped twins known as fairy stones.

Ancient chemically deposited rock of alternating iron-oxide and silica bands recording Earth's early oxygenation and a major iron ore source.

A metamorphosed banded iron formation of alternating quartz and iron-oxide layers, mined as a major iron ore.

A banded, metamorphosed iron formation in which bright red jasper alternates with silvery hematite or magnetite layers.

Limonite is an amorphous brown iron oxide ore, the rust-colored material behind ochre pigments and bog iron.

A natural volcanic glass with rich brown and black mahogany-like swirls created by iron oxide inclusions.

An opaque brown chalcedony whose iron-stained banding mimics deserts, dunes, and distant mountain skylines.

An iron-rich sedimentary rock, often heavy and rusty-weathering, historically mined as a major source of iron ore.

An orange-to-rust colored variety of natural volcanic glass whose warm tone comes from iron oxide staining within the obsidian.

A foliated metamorphic rock dominated by quartz with enough mica to give it a schistose, splitting fabric.

A calcium- and ferrous-iron-rich tourmaline, the iron analogue of uvite, forming dark brown to black crystals in skarns and metamorphic rocks.