  We study spectroscopically determined iron abundances of 642 solar-type stars
to search for the signature of accreted iron-rich material. We find that the
metallicity [Fe/H] of a subset of 466 main sequence stars, when plotted as a
function of stellar mass, mimics the pattern seen in lithium abundances in open
clusters. Using Monte Carlo models we find that, on average, these stars have
accreted about 0.4 Earth masses of iron while on the main sequence. A much
smaller sample of 19 stars in the Hertzsprung gap, which are slightly evolved
and whose convection zones are significantly more massive, have lower average
[Fe/H], and their metallicity shows no clear variation with stellar mass. These
findings suggest that terrestrial-type material is common around solar type
stars.
