Muonionalusta Meteorite

Getting Stoned: A Podcast About Gems and Minerals

Today I want to talk about this really sweet meteorite I scored. The name is a bit hard to pronounce so I hope I don’t butcher it.

Muonionalusta Meteorite is a meteorite that impacted the border area between Sweden and Finland and is named after the nearby Muonio River. Wikipedia says that it is probably the oldest known meteorite and is the first occurrence of stishovite in an iron meteorite.

Stishovite is a very rare and extremely hard and dense tetragonal form of silicon dioxide (think quartz) and could possibly be a predominant form of silicon dioxide in the lower mantel of our planet.

The meteorite impacted our planet during the Quaternary period around 1 million years ago and was either part of the iron core or mantle of a planetoid that shattered into many pieces as it fell.

Here is something to think about. I am holding a piece of history--something that has experienced four ice ages! Originally I was going to keep it but I decided to wrap and sell it---someone out there will treasure it.

If the Muonionalusta meteorite could speak, imagine the stories it would have to share with us.

For pictures of the meteorite, click here.

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