Ofdostauses

Ofdostauses are a fictional mineral class described in speculative geology and worldbuilding contexts. The term refers to laminar, sheet-like mineral composites that form in hydrothermal veins under high-temperature, high-salinity conditions. They are characterized by alternating lithic bands and a variable composition dominated by silicate sheets with trace metals, forming by rapid crystallization and episodic fluid influx. The microstructure is often described as multilaminate, with interlayer spacings in the tens of nanometers to micrometers, giving distinctive polarized-light textures.

Formation and properties: They form by rapid crystallization from hot, metal-rich brines in tectonically active regions or in volcanic-hosted hydrothermal systems. They exhibit variable magnetic and spectral signatures, which in fiction or studies may be used to infer redox history of the host system.

Occurrence: While not a real mineral, the concept is used in science fiction and worldbuilding to simulate hydrothermal ore deposits or planetary geology analogs. In some speculative texts, they are reported on fictional planetary bodies such as Xeros and Nyssa.

Etymology and reception: The name is a neologism without a widely accepted linguistic lineage; some writers derive it from constructed roots or from attempts to emulate mineral nomenclature. The concept has been discussed in glossaries of speculative geology and in collaborative fiction projects as a tool for encoding environmental history.