Santa Catharina meteorite, Morro do Rócio, São Francisco do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazili

Regional Level Types
Santa Catharina meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Morro do Rócio	- not defined -
São Francisco do Sul	Municipality
Santa Catarina	State
Brazil	Country

Iron Meteorite; Ataxite, Ni-rich (IAB-ung; D)
Found 1875; 7 tons [recognized and recovered].

Several weathered masses, the largest weighing 2,557 kg, were recovered on the island of São Francisco do Sul.

First believed to be a nickel ore, total mass recovered by humans may have been as much as 25,000 kg.

The meteorite is unusual in 3 important respects — it is

(1) unusually nickel rich (~30 wt% of unoxidised portions),
(2) unusually troilite-rich, and
(3) very severely weathered.

What remains of the original metallic structure is a complex polycrystalline network consisting of two or three varieties of Ni-rich metal plus minor kamacite. Schreibersite, troilite, and their multiple weathering products are ubiquitous companions. Indeed, one of these products, the secondary phosphate arupite, was first discovered in Santa Catharina fragments. In some cases, only a limonitic, but Ni-rich mass remains (the 'nickel ore'). At the other extreme, barringerite and schreibersite-enclosed fayalite are mineralogically unusual even for meteorites.

The municipality of São Francisco do Sul was initially named Nossa Senhora da Graça do Rio São Francisco do Sul. For this reason, in the older literature, the name Rio São Francisco is mentioned.

Note: Several sources (both online and offline) claim that "over 2,500 kg" of the original mass is kept in Brazil's National Museum in Rio de Janeiro. However, according to the National Museum itself, this is incorrect. The mass that was originally present weighs "about 2 kg". This error is probably due to a misinterpretation of the "decimal separator" in different languages.
In English, 2.500 means "two and a half", whereas 2,500 means "two thousand five hundred, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separator

Note: In September 2018, the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro burned down and about 90% of its entire collection (of over 20 million specimens/artefacts) was lost. It is not known whether the Santa Catharina meteorite mass that had been present in the museum has survived the fire or not. For more information on the fire, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_Brazil_fire

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References