For speed of reference, here is an alphabetical list of all of the rocks and minerals found on this website or in the Living Rock Studios. Because many rocks and minerals have multiple names, common alternate names are listed as well, with a link to the main article.

Actinolite – A green mineral, usually found within other minerals, and including jade.

Agate – Chalcedony that is banded, generally in a circular manner.

Alabaster – A fine grained form of gypsum.

Almandine – Almandine is the most common of the garnet family, a red to brown crystal.

Amathyst – Purple colored quartz.

Analcime – A white or clear crystal that grows in symmetrical balls.

Analcite – Another name for analcime.

Apache Tears – A form of obsidian where it has been eaten away by water converting it to perlite.

Arsenic – A toxic element rarely found in a pure form.

Asbestos – A generic term for fibrous minerals, most commonly the fibrous form of serpentine, chrysotile.

Autunite – One of the natural ore forms of Uranium.

Aventurine – Green quartz.

Bloodstone – Bright Green chalcedony with red spots. Also called Heliotrope.

Calamine – Hemimorphite and smithsonite were both once called calamine before it was discovered they were different minerals.

Calapooia Purple – A lavender to deep purple colored chalcedony found in Oregon. Also called Holly Blue.

Carnelian – A highly prized orange to red colored chalcedony.

Chalcedony – Microchrystalline quartz whose color variations each have their own names except for white.

Chrysocolla – A copper silicate with a spectacular blue-green color.

Chrysoprase – A bright green colored chalcedony.

Chrysotile – The fibrous form of serpentine that we get most commercial asbestos from.

Cinnabar – The primary ore of mercury, cinnabar is a bright red color, and was often used as a dye.

Citrine – An orange colored quartz.

Copper – The first metal used by people, and still used heavily today, copper occurs rarely in its native form.

Desert Rose – A gypsum crystal formation that looks like a rose

Enargite – An arsenic and copper bearing mineral with dark crystals.

Fayalite – An olivine mineral with high iron content and no magnesium.

Fluorite – An extremely colorful mineral that gave us the term “fluorescent.”

Fool’s Gold – A common name for pyrite.

Forserite – An olivine mineral with high magnesium and no iron.

Galena – The primary ore of lead, often forms black cubic crystals.

Garnet – Garnet is a family of low grade crystals, with many different members, including almandine, uvarovite, grossular, spessartine, pyrope, andradite, and glaucophane.

Geode – A geode is a cavity in another rock that gets partially filled with another mineral, usually quartz or chalcedony.

Gold – The classic yellow precious metal, sought after and used for thousands of years.

Gritstone – Sandstone that is made of sharper edged particles.

Gypsum – The Second softest mineral, used in Plaster of Paris, also comes in a range of interesting shapes.

Halite – The mineral we normally call salt, from evaporated sea water.

Heliotrope – Also called bloodstone. A particular coloration of chalcedony.

Hematite – An important iron ore, usually red colored.

Hemimorphite – A zinc ore with distinctive crystals.

Heteposite – A bright purple, rare, mineral which forms a mineral chain with purpurite.

Holly Blue – A blue to purple chalcedony. The variety found in Oregon is called Calapooia Purple.

Jade – A generic term used to refer to either nephrite (actinolite) or jadeite.

Jasper – Chalcedony that is generally red or green with many streaks from other trace minerals.

Kyanite – A blue crystal that changes hardness depending on where you measure it.

Labradorite – A variety of feldspar used primarily in jewelry.

Lapis Lazuli – The gemstone name for a bright blue stone whose primary mineral is lazurite.

Lazurite – A mineral most famous for its bright blue variety, lapis lazuli.

Lead – A heavy, and toxic, element that is rarely found in its native form. Instead, lead is usually taken from galena.

Lizardite – A fine grained form of serpentine used in gemstones.

Marcasite – The trade name for pyrite when it is used in jewelry.

Melanterite – A green or blue secondary mineral from iron or copper ore.

Mercury – Famous for being a toxic metal that is liquid in room temperature, native mercury is extremely rare and normally is found in its ore, cinnabar.

Mesolite – Slender crystal clusters that can look like puffballs they’re so fine.

Moonstone – A variety of labradorite.

Natrolite – A thin, radiating crystal that often looks like a pincushion of needles.

Nephrite – A variety of actinolite, one of two minerals commonly called jade.

Obsidian – Naturally occurring volcanic glass, known for being used historically to make tools and weapons.

Olivenite – Small green crystals that form on copper sulfides.

Olivine – A green mineral class that can sometimes be used for gemstones.

Onyx – Chalcedony that is has white and black stripes.

Opal – A gemstone where silica gel is hardened into a lattice, with water supporting it to provide a shimmer.

Orpiment – A bright yellow arsenic ore.

Pectolite – A silicate mineral that can form very interesting, and sharp spike formations.

Peridot – The name of gemstone quality olivine.

Perlite – A volcanic glass with high water levels, sometimes a byproduct of weathered obsidian.

Petoskey – The state gem of Michigan, petoskey is coral that has turned into opal.

Petrified Wood – Wood that has rotted out, to be replaced by a mineral, retaining the original shape and texture of the wood. Usually chalcedony, sometimes opal, replaces the wood as it rots, but other minerals are also possible.

Psilomelane – The previous name of romanechite.

Pumice – A volcanic rock that had air mixed with it as it cools, making it a very light rock.

Purpurite – A very rare and bright purple mineral, forming a mineral series with heteposite

Pyrite – Gold colored iron sulfide often called “fool’s gold”

Pyrrhotite – A magnetic iron sulfide crystal.

Quartz – A very common crystal that comes in many colors and sizes. Most of the colors have their own names.

Realgar – A bright red arsenic ore that degrades in sunlight.

Rhodonite – A bright rose colored stone often used in jewelry.

Rhodochrosite – A pink colored mineral often found in stalagmites or stalactites and used in jewelry.

Romanechite – Bubbly looking black manganese bearing mineral.

Rubelite – The name given to red colored tourmaline.

Salt – The common name for the mineral halite.

Sandstone – Sedimentary rock made of grains of sand compressed into rock.

Sard – Brown colored chalcedony.

Schorl – Tourmaline that has been colored black by the presence of iron.

Selenite – The name given to crystalline gypsum.

Serpentine – A group of metamorphic minerals, usually mottled green and sometimes fibrous.

Silver – This valuable soft metal is rare in a natural state.

Smithsonite – A zinc bearing ore that comes in a variety of colors.

Soapstone – Another name for a dense form of talc.

Sodalite – A mineral which is most sought out for its blue varieties.

Specularite – Hematite that contains small bits of mica or quartz to sparkle. Also called specular hematite.

Staurolite – A crystal that is often twinned in the shape of a cross.

Steatite – A massive form of talc, also called soapstone.

Steel Galena – The term given sometimes to finer grained, more fibrous looking, galena since it looks so different.

Stilbite – A cream colored crystal that often twins into a distinctive bow-tie shape.

Sulfur – A bright yellow, very soft, toxic element that sometimes grows yellow crystals.

Sunstone – A variety of orange labradorite found in Oregon.

Talc – a very soft and absorbent mineral, most famously used in baby powder.

Thunderegg – A thunderegg is a geode that is completely filled, usually with chalcedony.

Tiger’s Eye – Quartz with stripes, generally due to asbestos inclusions.

Titanium – The strongest metal per ounce, and used in a wide variety of applications.

Topaz – A usually yellow silicate gemstone, but comes in several different colors.

Tourmaline – An extremely colorful gemstone that sometimes is even variegated.

Tremolite – Chemically the same as actinolite, but has iron instead of actinolite’s magnesium.

Tuff – Sometimes called tuft, tuff is an aggregate mineral that is formed from volcanic fallout settling down.

Uvarovite – A green crystal from the garnet group of minerals.

Wavellite – An interesting crystal that forms in radiating circles.

Wulfenite – Forms flat, often perfectly square, yellow to orange crystals.