Tartak        54°5’8.23"N, 23°5’2.24"E

Suwalki, Poland

Found: 2008

Classification: Iron meteorite (IIIAB)

History: The metorite was found during a search for military armaments from WW II.

Petrography: This structural description mainly based on a heavily etched slab with a total area (on opposite sides) of 40 cm². Neumann lines in different orientations are densely spaced in the kamacite. Small FeS inclusions are common, typically 3×1 mm. Kamacite shows evidence of impact-associated reheating. Swathing kamacite around FeS has recrystallized to small (mm-size) grains. Sample is moderately weathered near the surface; one dark oxide grain has dimensions of 5×8 mm. No heat-altered zone has been recognized. Examination of a small polished section showed tiny rhabdites to be common with some coarser schreibersite (typically 20×400 μm). Troilite grains commonly show daubreelite lamellae. Cu metal has been noted as an inclusion near troilite. Cohenite was found as a rim on a μm-size troilite-daubreelite nodule.

Geochemistry: Composition: Co, 5.01 mg/g; Ni, 73.7 mg/g; Ga, 19.8 μg/g; Ge, <100 μg/g; As, 9.2 μg/g; Ir, 4.0 μg/g; and Au, 0.606 μg/g. The meteorite plots in IIIAB fields for all elements. It differs in detailed composition from all European IIIAB irons but is similar to Ssyromolotovo, which was recovered in Siberia to the east. Although Tartak contains cohenite, the compositional data do not plot in IIIE Co-Au or Ga-Au fields.