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Misteca meteorite, Zimatlán de Álvarez Municipality, Oaxaca, Mexicoi

Regional Level Types
Misteca meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Zimatlán de Álvarez Municipality	Municipality
Oaxaca	State
Mexico	Country

Iron meteorite, ungrouped (Iron, ung., Og)
Find, 1804; 10 kg

An ~10-11 kg mass of meteoritic iron was found, heated to perhaps 1000°C, sectioned, distributed to various museums and vendors, and sometimes mislabeled. The octahedral iron is characterized by 'mottled' (heat altered) kamacite, taenite, and schreibersite which have been only partially transformed. Cavities apparently due to heated and melted troilite and graphite are present, but most if not all of the original troilite and graphitic matter are apparently lost. It is perhaps, then, not surprising that Choi et al. (1995) reclassified Misteca as an ungrouped iron — removing it from an earlier IIICD classification — but whether Misteca's heat-treated metal sufficiently represents its original pre-terrestrial condition to be meaningfully classified might be an open question.

Buchwald (1975) has presented a thorough treatment of Misteca and several Mexican irons — including two other irons from Oaxaca (Apoala, IIAB 1889 find; Yanhuitlan, IIIAB 1825 find). To the extent possible, he has untangled some of the various effects of pre-terrestrial shocks, artificial heating, and careless bookkeeping.

Misteca is one of 117 ungrouped iron meteorites (~10% of all classified irons) listed with the Meteoritical Bulletin Database as of early September 2015. Masses of 1-2 kg have been held at the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Hungarian National History Museum in Budapest, and the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin.

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