Mineral Symbols

As national and state symbols go, minerals are far more obscure than plants and animals. But take a closer look.

Let’s take a brief tour of flowers of state. Minerals may be represented on flags and coats of arms by the color yellow or mining icons. Minerals, gems, rocks, and stones are very popular among the symbols adopted by the 50 U.S. states.

National ˆ

United States ˆ

Most states have an official mineral, gem, rock, or stone. Most states also have an official fossil. However, the lines between the two can be surprisingly confuising.

For example, coal is the fossilized remains of plants. It has been adopted by three states, two of which call it the state rock, while Kentucky calls it the state mineral. Similarly, several states have adopted limestone and marble—rocks made of the remains of marine animals—but none call them their state fossil.

The fact that coal, limestone, and marble normally can’t be traced to a particular species clinches it; I listed the in the table below, not in the State Fossils table. However, what about fossilized coral and wood, which are commonly designated official stones or gems?

I listed them in the State Fossils table. However, I also listed the ones designated state gems or stones in the table below.

Hawaii is an even more unusual case. Legislators stupidly named black coral the state gem. Reluctantly, I decided to include it in the table below, though an aqua background is a reminder that it’s not really a mineral.

Practically speaking, Hawaii is one of seven states that don’t have an authentic mineral, rock, or gem as an official symbol. The other three are Mississippi, New Jersey, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Washington, and West Virginia. New Jersey, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania do have official fossils, while Mississippi and Washington designated a fossil its state stone and gem, respectively. Like Washington, West Virginia has two fossils among its symbols, though neither one is designated an official fossil.

Indiana is yet another state whose hard earth symbols are both fossils, though limestone (the state rock) is indeed a rock. come to think of it, fossilized wood and coral are mineralized, so maybe they qualify as minerals after all. Confused yet?

Given its volcanic origin, Hawaii could be the only state that will never have an official mineral or fossil.

In the table below, petrified wood and coal are highlighted with the color green, whilc a light blue represents limestone and marble.

List of State Minerals, Gems & Rocks
State	Species	Designation
Alabama	hematite (red iron ore)		1967
	star blue quartz	Gemstone	1990
	marble	Rock	1969
Alaska	gold		1968
	jade	Gem	1968
Arizona	wulfenite		2017
	turquoise	Gem	1974
	copper	Metal	2015
Arkansas	quartz crystal		1967
	diamond	Gemstone	1967
	bauxite	Rock	1967
California	gold	Mineral & Mineralogic Emblem	1965
	benitoite	Gemstone	1985
	serpentine	Rock & Lithologic Emblem	1965
Colorado	rhodochrosite		2002
	aquamarine	Gemstone	1971
	Yule marble	Rock	2004
Connecticut	almandine garnet		1977
Delaware	sillimanite		1977
District of Columbia	Potomac bluestone	Rock	2014
Florida	moonstone	Gem	1969
	agatized coral	Stone	1979
Georgia	staurolite		1976
	quartz	Gem	1976
Hawaii	black coral (Antipathidae)	Gem	1987
Idaho	Idaho star garnet	Gem Stone	1967
Illinois	fluorite		1965
Indiana	limestone	Stone	1971
Iowa	geode	Rock	1967
Kansas	galena	Mineral	2018
	jelinite	Gem	2018
	limestone	Rock	2018
Kentucky	coal		1998
	Kentucky agate	Rock	2000
Louisiana	agate	Mineral	1976
Maine	tourmaline	Gemstone	1971
Maryland	Patuxent River stone	Gem	2004
Massachusetts	babingtonite		1971
	rhodonite	Gem	1979
	Roxbury puddingstone	Rock	1983
	granite	State Building Rock and Monument Stone	1983
Michigan	Isle Royal greenstone (chlorastrolite)	Gem	1973
	Petoskey stone (fossilized coral)	Stone	1965
Minnesota	Lake Superior agate	Gemstone	1969
Mississippi	petrified wood	Stone	1976
Missouri	galena (lead)		1967
	mozarkite	Rock	1967
Montana	sapphire	Gemstone	1969
	Montana agate	Gemstone	1969
Nebraska	blue chalcedony (agate)	Gemstone	1967
	prairie agate	Rock	1967
Nevada	sandstone	Rock	1987
	Virgin Valley black fire opal	Precious Gemstone	1987
	turquoise	Semi-Precious Gemstone	1987
	silver	Metal	1977
New Hampshire	beryl		1985
	smoky quartz	Gem	1985
	granite	Rock	1985
New Jersey	(none)
New Mexico	turquoise	Gem	1967
New York	wine-red garnet	Gem	1969
North Carolina	gold		2011
	granite	Rock	1979
	emerald	Stone	1973
North Dakota	(none)
Ohio	Ohio flint	Gemstone	1965
Oklahoma	rose rock (barite rose)	Rock	1968
	hourglass selenite crystal	Crystal	2005
Oregon	thunderegg	Rock	1965
	Oregon sunstone	Gemstone	1987
Pennsylvania	(none)
Rhode Island	bowenite		1966
	cumberlandite	Rock	1966
South Carolina	amethyst	Gem	1969
	blue granite	Stone	1969
South Dakota	Black Hills gold		1988
	Fairburn agate	Gemstone	1966
	rose quartz	Jewelry	1966
Tennessee	limestone	Rock	1979
	agate	Stone	1969
Texas	Texas blue topaz	Gem	1969
	silver	Precious Metal	2007
	petrified palmwood	Stone	1969
Utah	copper		1994
	coal	Rock	1991
	topaz	Gem	1969
Vermont	talc		1991
	grossular granite	Gem	1991
	marble	Rock	1992
Virginia	Nelsonite	Rock	2016
Washington	petrified wood	Gem	1975
West Virginia	bituminous coal	Rock	2009
	Lithostrotionella (fossilized coral)	Gem	1990
Wisconsin	galena (lead)		1971
	red granite	Rock	1971
Wyoming	jade (nephrite)	Gemstone	1967

Canada ˆ

List of Provincial Minerals
Province	Mineral, etc.	Designation
Alberta	ammolite	Gemstone
British Columbia	jade	Gemstone	1968
Newfoundland	labradorite	Mineral
Northwest Territories	gold	Mineral	1981
	diamond	Gemstone	1999
Nova Scotia	stilbite	Mineral	1999
	agate	Gemstone	1999
Ontario	amethyst	Mineral	1975
Saskatchewan	sylvite (potash)	Mineral	1997
Yukon Territory	lazulite	Gemstone	1976

Other Mineral Symbols ˆ