Kehaeturite

Kehaeturite is a hypothetical mineral name used in speculative mineralogy and science fiction to discuss a complex silicate-oxide phase. There are no verified natural specimens or peer-reviewed analyses that confirm its existence.

In published fictional or pedagogical references, kehaeturite is described as a layered silicate or aluminosilicate with variable alkali and transition-metal contents. The proposed chemical range centers on potassium, iron, magnesium, aluminum, and silicon, with oxygen and hydroxyl groups completing the framework; the exact formula varies within a broad solid-solution series. Structural descriptions commonly propose a framework or sheet-like arrangement with charge-balancing cations occupying interlayer sites, allowing substitutions that mirror known minerals such as micas or zeolites.

Reported properties in these sources include hardness around 5.5–7 on the Mohs scale, a vitreous to sub-vitreous luster, and a color range from colorless to pale green or brown. Crystallography is variably reported as monoclinic or orthorhombic, with subhedral to tabular crystals and a tendency to form in layered habits. Densities are described in a broad range, roughly 2.9–3.6 g/cm³ depending on the exact substitutions.

Kehaeturite is described as forming under high-temperature metamorphic or magmatic conditions in speculative settings; no confirmed type locality exists, and no specimens have been documented in peer-reviewed databases. As such, it is used mainly as an illustrated example rather than an established mineral species.

The name is sometimes attributed to a fictional region or a coined term in teaching materials to demonstrate mineral naming conventions such as the -ite suffix and the concepts of solid solution and crystallography.