Muonionalustaite, Ni₃(OH)₄Cl₂·4H₂O, a new mineral formed by terrestrial weathering of the Muonionalusta iron (IVA) meteorite, Pajala, Norrbotten, Sweden

Structural and spectroscopic study of well-developed crystals of parahibbingite, β-Fe2(OH)3Cl, formed from terrestrial weathering of the Muonionalusta iron meteorite

“…In this light, the iron in parahibbingite studied here most probably stems from the meteoritic Fe–Ni alloy, whereas chlorine may have been provided from the surrounding environment. Cl concentrations in the local soil are in fact remarkably high, because of the presence of significant amounts of Cl-bearing minerals, mainly scapolite- and apatite-group minerals, in the underlying bedrock (Ladenberger et al , 2012; Holtstam et al , 2020). In addition, the longtime of residence in a relatively stable and protected anoxic environment may have played an important role in the formation of large single crystals with a good degree of crystallinity.…”

“…Fragments of the meteorite are generally found at different depths in tillite beds, sometimes intermingled with glaciofluvial sediments, and are usually covered by a crust of rusty material, which commonly includes fragments of the surrounding soil. The crust is populated by a wide variety of alteration products, mainly iron oxides, oxyhydroxides and hydroxychloride, such as magnetite, maghemite, goethite, akaganeite, lepidocrocite, and the recently approved mineral muonionalustaite [Ni 3 (OH) 4 Cl 2 ⋅4H 2 O] (Holtstam et al , 2020).…”

Editorial for Special Issue “Mineralogy of Meteorites”

“…In the last decades, these technologies have been successfully employed for detailed investigations of new minerals in both meteorites and terrestrial rocks, especially when their synthetic analogs are well known. During 2018-2020, 15 phases recently found in meteorites were approved by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification (CNMNC) of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA) as new mineral species [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] [11,[25][26][27][28]. Of course, these few works cannot cover all mineral-forming processes occurring in meteorites.…”