Parkajoki        67°47’9.4’’N, 23°21’34.8’’E

Norrbottens, Sweden

Find: 2014

Classification: Iron meteorite (IVA)

History: Found by Thomas Österberg in 2014 while searching with metal detectors for Muonionalusta specimens near the stream Parkajoki in Norbotten län, Sweden. The meteorite was purchased by Ewa and Uwe Eger (Space Rocks, Germany) at the mineral show in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France, in 2016.

Physical characteristics: Single mass of irregular shape with a light to dark brown weathered exterior.

Petrography: (K. Metzler, IfP) Octahedrite structure with kamacite and taenite lamellae, together with plessite fields. Large troilite nodules with sizes up to 7x5 cm occur. Apparent band width (µm) of kamacite is 180±100 (50-380; n=16), compared to 400 µm for Muonionalusta (Goldstein 1969; in Meteorite Research, ed. P.M. Millman, Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht-Holland).

Geochemistry: Mineral compositions and geochemistry: Bulk Ni content is 9.4 wt% (SEM-EDX), compared to 8.4 wt% in Muonionalusta (Goldstein 1969). Bulk trace element concentration was determined on 3 samples by dissolution ICP-MS (M. Matthes, IfP). Additionally, 3 samples from the Muonionalusta (Muon) meteorite were analyzed by the same method for comparison (shown in parenthesis): Co wt% 0.42-0.43 (Muon 0.37-0.40). Following data in ppm: Cu 248-254 (Muon 109-122); Ge 0.16-0.19 (Muon 0.12-0.16); W 0.26-0.36 (Muon 0.31-0.37); Ga 1.50-1.52 (Muon 1.93-2.23); As 7.1-7.5 (Muon 10.3-11.2); Mo 4.2-4.4 (Muon 5.5-6.1); Ru 1.53-1.69 (Muon 2.40-2.66); Ir 0.54-0.76 (Muon 1.08-1.17); Pt 2.25-2.48 (Muon 3.53-3.93).

Classification: Structure and bulk chemical data are consistent with a IVA iron meteorite (finest to fine octahedrite). Obvious chemical and structural differences to the Muonionalusta meteorite.