Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
I use high pressure/high temperature experiments together with analytical and theoretical tools to understand melting, mass transfer, and differentiation in planetary interiors. Areas of focus include the role of lithologic heterogeneity in basalt source regions, cycling and storage of volatiles (H, C, N, S) in planetary interiors, delivery and loss processes of these volatiles during the early accretion and differentiation of terrestrial planets, and redox processes in both modern and early planetary environments.
Recent and current research projects include studies of the acquisition and loss of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur during formation and differentiation of planets and planetesimals, interactions between volatiles and redox processes in magma oceans, Fe3+ partitioning during basalt formation, redox processes in Martian magmatism, and the incorporation of of H in plagioclase, particularly as applied to lunar materials.
Research employs high temperature and high pressure experimental devices and an array of analytical tools including, electron microprobe, FTIR, SIMS, XANES, Mossbauer spectroscopy, EBSD, and LA-ICP-MS
PhD, 1992, University of Washington
Hirschmann, M. M., Zhang, H.L. (2023) A preliminary model for activity-composition relations of solid and molten FePt alloys at high pressure for characterization of oxygen fugacity in high pressure experiments. European Journal of Mineralogy 35 789-803. https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-35-789-2023
Bergin, E.A. Kempton, E.M-R., Hirschmann, M. M. Bastelberger, S.T., Teal, D.J., Blake, G.A., Ciesla, F.J., Li. J. (2023) Haze production from soot-rich exoplanets. The Astrophysical Journal 949 L17DOI 10.3847/2041-8213/acd377
Hirschmann, M.M. (2023) The deep Earth oxygen cycle: Mass balance considerations on the origin and evolution of mantle and surface oxidative reservoirs. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 619C:118311
Hirschmann, M.M. (2022) Magma oceans, iron and chromium redox, and the origin of comparatively oxidized planetary mantles. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Act. 328: 221-241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2022.04.005
Hirschmann, M.M. (2021) Iron-wüstite revisited: A revised calibration accounting for variable stoichiometry and the effects of pressure. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 313:74-84.
Hirschmann, M.M. Bergin, E.A. Blake, G., Ciesla, F.J., Li, J. (2021) Early volatile depletion on planetesimals inferred from C-S systematics of iron meteorite parent bodies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118: e2026779118.
Li, J. Bergin, E.A. Blake, G., Ciesla, F.J., Hirschmann M.M. (2021) Carbon sublimation sequence and Earth’s carbon deficit imply early accretion of terrestrial building blocks Science Advances 7 : eabd3632
Dalou, C., Hirschmann, M.M., Jacobsen, S.D., LeLosq, C. (2019) Raman spectroscopy study of C-O-H-N speciation in reduced basaltic glasses: implications for reduced planetary mantles. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 265: 32-47
Zhang, Z. Qin, T., Pommier, A., Hirschmann, M.M. (2019) Carbon storage in Fe-Ni-S liquids in the deep upper mantle and its relation to diamond and Fe-Ni alloy precipitation. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 520: 164-174.
Pahlevan, K. Schaefer, L., Hirschmann, M.M. (2019) Magma ocean outgassing and hydrogen isotopic constraints on the Hadean Earth. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 525: # 115770
Hirschmann, M.M. (2018) Comparative deep Earth volatile cycles: The case for C recycling from exosphere/mantle fractionation of major (H2O, C, N) volatiles and from H2O/Ce, CO2/Ba, and CO2/Nb exosphere ratios. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 502:262-273.
Qin, T. Wentzcovitch, R., Umemoto, K. Hirschmann, M.M. Kohlstedt, D.L., (2018) Ab initio study of water speciation in forsterite American Mineralogist 103: 692-699.
Zhang, H.L., Cottrell, E., Solheid, P.A. Kelley, K.A. Hirschmann, M.M. (2018) Determination of Fe3+/ΣFe of XANES basaltic glass standards by Mössbauer spectroscopy and its application to the oxidation state of iron in MORB. Chemical Geology 479 166-175.
Zhang, Z., Hastings, P. von der Handt, A., Hirschmann, M.M. (2018) Experimental determination of carbon solubility in Fe-Ni-S melts. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 225: 66-79.
Zhang, Z. Hirschmann, M.M. von der Handt, A. (2018) Fe-Ni exchange between sulfide melt and olivine at conditions relevant to Earth’s upper mantle. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology. 173 Art. no. 19
Hier-Majumder S. Hirschmann, M.M. (2017) The origin of volatiles in Earth’s mantle. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 18 3078-3092.
Conrad, C.P., Selway, K. Hirschmann, M.M. Ballmer, M.D. Wessel, P. (2017) Constraints on volumes and patterns of asthenospheric melt from the space-time distribution of seamounts. Geophysical Research Letters 44 doi:10.1002/2017GL074098.
Keller, T. Katz, R.F., Hirschmann, M.M. (2017) The fate of volatiles in mid-ocean ridge magmatism. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 464:55-68.
Dalou, C., Hirschmann, M.M. Mosenfelder, J., von der Handt, A., Armstrong, L.S. (2017) Nitrogen and carbon fractionation during core-mantle differentiation at shallow depth. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 458:141-151.