Königsbrück meteorite, Königsbrück, Bautzen District, Saxony, Germanyi

Regional Level Types
Königsbrück meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Königsbrück	Town
Bautzen District	District
Saxony	State
Germany	Country

Ordinary chondrite (H/L4)
Found, 2004; 51. 8 g

While looking for moldavites in a field near Königsbrück, the finder came upon an oriented, relatively fresh stone still partly covered by its fusion crust. An examined sample revealed an unbrecciated stone containing largely equilibrated olivine and distinctly unequilibrated pyroxenes. Sharply delineated barred, porphyritic and granular chondrules as well as cryptocrystalline and angular chondrule fragments are found. Composition of olivine (Fa24-ave) and pyroxenes (Ca-poor and Ca-rich) are somewhat borderline between the normal expectations for H and L chondrites. Both kamacite and taenite, present in an approximate 1-to-1 ratio, are also somewhat variable. Opaques include troilite, chromite, and ilmenite. Plagioclase is conspicuously absent from the two primary cited sources.

Königsbrück, along with Bremervörde, is one of two German meteorites classified as H/L chondrites at the 'Meteoritical Bulletin Database' hosted by The Meteoritical Society. There is some uncertainty and disagreement about whether these meteorites and other similarly classified meteorites are simply 'outliers' — members of two groups (H and L chondrites) from two original parent bodies with overlapping geochemical properties or whether they are derived from an entirely separate and third original parent body. Perhaps finer resolution of O-isotopes, Fe/Mn ratios, and rare earth elements (REE) will resolve these questions — and perhaps not. The history of meteoritics and parent body hypotheses has been that even as we find firm relationships between many members of our defined groups, various anomalies sometimes force us to consider entirely different possibilities for a few 'geochemical misfits.'

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References