The first fragment of the Muonionalusta meteorite was found in 1906 near the village of Kitkiöjärvi.[2] Around forty pieces are known today, some being quite large. Other fragments have been found in a 25-by-15-kilometre (15.5 mi × 9.3 mi) area in the Pajala district of Norrbotten County, approximately 140 kilometres (87 mi) north of the Arctic Circle.
The meteorite was first described in 1910 by Professor A. G. Högbom, who named it after the nearby place Muonionalusta on the Muonio River. It was studied in 1948 by Professor Nils Göran David Malmqvist.[3] The Muonionalusta meteorite, probably the oldest known meteorite (4.5653 ± 0.0001 billion years),[4] marks the first occurrence of stishovite in an iron meteorite.
The mineral muonionalustaite, a hydrated nickel chloride, was first found as a weathering product from a meteorite sample.[5]
The name Muonionalusta is Finnish: it comes from the name Muonio (+ possessive particle -(o)n-) and alusta, which in this context means "a place below", i.e. downstream from Muonio.
Description
Studies have shown it to be the oldest discovered meteorite impacting the Earth during the Quaternary Period, about one million years ago. It is quite clearly part of the iron core or mantle of a planetoid, which shattered into many pieces upon its fall on our planet.[6] Since landing on Earth the meteorite has experienced four ice ages. It was unearthed from a glacial moraine in the northern tundra. It has a strongly weathered surface covered with cemented faceted pebbles.
Composition
Slice (across 9.6 cm) of a Muonionalusta meteorite fragment, showing the Widmanstätten pattern.
New analysis of this strongly shock-metamorphosed iron meteorite has shown a content of 8.4% nickel and trace amounts of rare elements—0.33 ppm gallium, 0.133 ppm germanium and 1.6 ppm iridium. It also contains the minerals chromite, daubréelite, schreibersite, akaganéite and inclusions of troilite.[3] For the first time, analysis has proved the presence of a form of quartz altered by extremely high pressure—stishovite,[3] probably a pseudomorphosis after tridymite. From the article "First discovery of stishovite in an iron meteorite":[2]
Stishovite, a high pressure polymorph of SiO2, is an exceptionally rare mineral...and has only been found in association with a few meteorite impact structures.... Clearly, the meteoritic stishovite cannot have formed by isostatic pressure prevailing in the core of the parent asteroid.... One can safely assume then that stishovite formation (in the Muonionalusta meteorite) is connected with an impact event. The glass component might have formed directly as a shock melt....
A 2010 study reported the lead isotope dating in the Muonionalusta meteorite and concluded the stishovite was from an impact event hundreds of millions of years ago: "The presence of stishovite signifies that this meteorite was heavily shocked, possibly during the 0.4 Ga [billion years] old breakup event indicated by cosmic ray exposure...."[4]
Distribution
Fragments of the Muonionalusta meteorite are held by numerous institutions around the world.
Moldavite Museum, Český Krumlov, Czech Republic, 21,25 kg.
Observatory and Planetarium Brno, Czech Republic, 21 kg.
Geological Institute, Uppsala, 15 kilograms (33 lb).
UK Watchmaker, Bremont, incorporated slices sourced from the meteorite in their "Bremont Hawking Limited Edition Collection" watches. Only 388 were produced.[11]
In 2021, Poland's Germania Mint released a numismatic coin named Impact Moments: Meteorite that depicts the extinction of dinosaurs as a result of a meteorite hitting the earth. Each coin has a fragment of the Muonionalusta meteorite embedded in it.[12]
In early 2024, watch maker Bulova released a version of its vintage-inspired space-mission-worthy chronograph, the Lunar Pilot, with a dial that was made out of the meteorite, called the Bulova Lunar Pilot Chronograph Meteorite Dial Limited Edition (Limited to 5000 pieces).
Malmqvist, David (1948). Structure of the Muonionalusta iron meteorite and a method of determining the orientation of lamellae of octahedrites. Uppsala: Almquist & Wiksells. OCLC494672409.
