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The mineral atlas
Compare metallic minerals, volcanic glass, carbon-rich materials, fossilized wood and fossil-bearing rocks. Jet and amber have organic origins; obsidian and lava record volcanic processes; fossil materials preserve different histories of burial and alteration.
13 specimens · Geology, history, and spiritual attributes
13 specimens
The red mineral beneath a metallic surface
Iron oxide (Fe2O3).
Hematite can be a polished dark mirror, a cluster of steel-gray plates, a rounded brown mass, or a fine red earth.
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Iron oxide, natural magnetism, and the cultural life of lodestone
Magnetic iron oxide, distinct from hematite.
Magnetite is a black iron oxide whose magnetic response can be more striking than its appearance.
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Brass-colored geometry, reflective history, and a mineral that rewards careful storage
Iron sulfide (FeS2).
Pyrite's cubes can look manufactured, but their geometry belongs to natural crystal growth.
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Iridescent copper minerals beneath a shared trade name
A retail label commonly applied to iridescent copper-iron sulfides.
Peacock ore is a name for an appearance, not a single mineral species.
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Volcanic Glass, Sharp Edges and Reflective Depth
Natural volcanic glass, not a crystalline mineral.
Obsidian preserves a different outcome of cooling magma: glass rather than a framework of interlocking mineral grains.
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Ancient carbon-rich rock with a complex microscopic identity
Name used for carbon-rich mineraloid and carbon-bearing rock from Karelia.
Shungite belongs to a family of dark, carbon-bearing rocks rather than to one simple, uniform crystal species.
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Fossil wood transformed into a jewel of deep black
Organic gem material derived from fossil wood, not obsidian or anthracite by default.
Jet offers a different kind of beauty from a transparent crystal: a dense black surface that can be carved into delicate relief and polished until it reflects like still water.
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Fossil resin and a record of ancient forests
Fossilized resin, an organic gem rather than a crystalline mineral.
Amber is fossilized tree resin, valued for its warm color, light weight and ability to preserve traces of ancient life.
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The architecture of a tree preserved in mineral form
Fossil wood preserved by mineral infilling/replacement, often silica.
Petrified wood retains the organization of something that once grew.
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Ancient marine structures preserved in stone
Fossil coral material, sometimes replaced by silica.
Fossil coral brings the architecture of ancient animals into view.
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Ancient marine life preserved within carbonate rock
Carbonate rock containing visible fossils.
Fossil limestone holds the remains of organisms within the stone that accumulated around them.
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Mineral-filled fractures within a sedimentary concretion
Concretions with internal cracks and later mineral fillings.
Septarian is a name for a patterned concretion, not a separate mineral species.
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Porous volcanic rock shaped by escaping gas and cooling melt
Broad retail name, usually for vesicular volcanic rock.
“Lava stone” is a broad commercial description rather than a precise mineral name.
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