Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):	67° 47' 60'' North , 23° 6' 0'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):	67.80000,23.10000
GeoHash:	G#: us03twsgt
Locality type:	Meteorite Fall Location
Meteorite Class:	IVA iron meteorite
Meteoritical Society Class:	Iron, IVA
Metbull:	View entry in Meteoritical Bulletin Database
Köppen climate type:	Dfc : Subarctic climate
Name(s) in local language(s):	Muonionalustameteoriten

Iron meteorite, fine octahedrite (IVA,Of)
Found, 1906; 239 kg

In 1906 an iron-rich mass was found by a 10-year-old boy who tended cattle in the forest 3 km southwest of the village Kitkiöjärvi. 50 years later a larger 15 kg mass was recovered. Since then, additional specimens — including a 158 kg mass discovered in 2003 - have revealed a 25 x 15 km recovery ellipse in an Arctic region intersected by lakes and bogs. The description by Buchwald (1975) covering the first 3 masses (Muonionalusta I, II, and III) provides a broad overview of Muonionalusta's mineralogy. The original meteorite was a fine octahedrite which fragmented before reaching the earth's surface and has since been effected by the reworking of glacial ice of the last ice age. The major constituents — kamacite, taenite, troilite, schreibersite, and minor sulfides — are, of course, not unexpected in a IVA iron. The several associated weatherates (Akaganeite, Goethite, Lepidocrocite) offer an unusual opportunity to study the effects of long exposure to an unusual and extremely cold environment.

With the recovery of additional species new findings have been reported. One of the new pieces discovered in 2001 — a 9.575 kg fragment found at a depth of 25 cm only 20 m from the site of the first find — contains stishovite apparently created in a preterrestrial shock eons ago. A recent Pb-Pb date from Muonionalusta troilite of ~4.565 Ga suggest a very ancient formation age for the IVA parent asteroid.

Regions containing this locality

Regional Geology

This geological map and associated information on rock units at or nearby to the coordinates given for this locality is based on relatively small scale geological maps provided by various national Geological Surveys. This does not necessarily represent the complete geology at this locality but it gives a background for the region in which it is found.

Click on geological units on the map for more information. Click here to view full-screen map on Macrostrat.org

Paleoproterozoic 1600 - 2500 Ma ID: 3160597	Proterozoic I granodiorite Age: Proterozoic (1600 - 2500 Ma) Lithology: Major:{granodiorite}, Minor{granite,gabbro} Reference: Asch, K. The 1:5M International Geological Map of Europe and Adjacent Areas: Development and Implementation of a GIS-enabled Concept. Geologisches Jahrbuch, SA 3. [147]
Paleoproterozoic 1600 - 2500 Ma ID: 633433	Igneous: intrusive; Intrusive: tonalitic-granodioritic Age: Proterozoic (1600 - 2500 Ma) Description: Northern Europe, Svecofennian and Lapland-Kola orogens Comments: Orogen, fold-thrust belt, folded region; Koistinen et al., 2001; Sigmond, 2002; Solli, unpublished compilation, 2007-08; Bergman et al., unpublished revisions, 2007-08 Lithology: Tonalite, granite, diorite, granodiorite, monzonite, migmatite Reference: J.C. Harrison, M.R. St-Onge, O.V. Petrov, S.I. Strelnikov, B.G. Lopatin, F.H. Wilson, S. Tella, D. Paul, T. Lynds, S.P. Shokalsky, C.K. Hults, S. Bergman, H.F. Jepsen, and A. Solli. Geological map of the Arctic. doi:10.4095/287868. Geological Survey of Canada Map 2159A. [2]
Orosirian 1800 - 2050 Ma ID: 2635409	Age: Orosirian (1800 - 2050 Ma) Description: Svecokarelian orogen; Norrbotten lithotectonic unit Lithology: Granitoid and subordinate syenitoid, metamorphic Reference: Bergman, S., M.B. Sephens, J. Andersson, B. Kathol, T. Bergman. Sveriges berggrund, skala 1:1 miljon. Sveriges geologiska undersökning K 423. [95]
Archean 2500 - 4000 Ma ID: 3189563	Archean crystalline metamorphic rocks Age: Archean (2500 - 4000 Ma) Lithology: High grade unclassified metamorphic rock Reference: Chorlton, L.B. Generalized geology of the world: bedrock domains and major faults in GIS format: a small-scale world geology map with an extended geological attribute database. doi: 10.4095/223767. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 5529. [154]

Data and map coding provided by Macrostrat.org, used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

References

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