Generally, color alone is not the best tool in identification because color can be highly variable. Some minerals can occur in a variety of different colors due to impurities in the chemical makeup of the mineral.

Most minerals cannot be identified by color alone. Many minerals, such as gold and pyrite, have the same color. Other minerals such as quartz, have many different colors. When you rub a mineral on a piece of unglazed ceramic tile, it may leave a streak of powder.

The physical properties of minerals are related to their chemical composition and bonding. Some characteristics, such as a mineral’s hardness, are more useful for mineral identification. Color is readily observable and certainly obvious, but it is usually less reliable than other physical properties.

Many minerals come in a diversity of colors, and many different minerals have similar colors. However, a few minerals can be identified solely by their color (usually in addition to crystal shape), for example Azurite, Rhodochrosite, and Dioptase. Such minerals are known as monochromatic minerals.

bornite, chalcopyrite, and hematite.

: an inorganic pigment usually of natural origin.

Idiochromatic minerals are “self colored” due to their composition. The color is a constant and predictable component of the mineral. Examples are blue Azurite, red Cinnabar, and green Malachite. Allochromatic minerals are “other colored” due to trace impurities in their composition or defects in their structure.

Table of Contents:

• Emerald.
• Peridot.
• Chrome Diopside.
• Moldavite.
• Turquoise.
• Sunstone and Oregon Sunstone.
• Zoisite.
• Malachite.

emeralds

mariposite