Rongidele

Rongidele is a fictional mineral species used in mineralogy education and speculative fiction to illustrate crystallography, nomenclature, and mineral properties. It appears in teaching materials and world-building contexts as an illustrative example rather than a real mineral.

The name rongidele derives from the fictional Rongid Mountains, a conventional type locality in many imagined descriptions. The -ide suffix follows standard mineral-naming conventions for binary and ternary silicates or oxides.

In the fictional account, rongidele is described as a silicate mineral with a layered or framework structure. Reported physical properties include a vitreous luster, a pale green to blue color, a white streak, and a Mohs hardness of about 6 to 6.5. Crystals are described as monoclinic or occasionally orthorhombic, with prismatic to tabular habits. The specific gravity is placed around 3.2–3.4. It is said to occur in ultramafic to basaltic rocks under low-grade metamorphic conditions and to commonly coexist with pyroxenes, feldspars, and magnetite in the fictional geology.

In practical use, rongidele serves as a pedagogical tool to demonstrate mineral naming, crystal systems, and rock associations. In fiction and world-building, it provides texture and realism to geological settings. No verified specimens or peer-reviewed descriptions of rongidele exist in the real mineralogical record, and it is not recognized by major authorities.

See also: List of mineral names, Silicate mineral, Crystal habit.