Marc Hirschmann

About

Marc Hirschmann is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota. His research employs high pressure and high temperature experiments, along with analytical and theoretical tools, to understand melting, mass transfer, and differentiation in planetary interiors. His areas of focus include the role of lithologic heterogeneity in basalt source regions, cycling and storage of volatiles such as hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur in planetary interiors, and the delivery and loss processes of these volatiles during the early accretion and differentiation of terrestrial planets. He also investigates redox processes in both modern and early planetary environments. His recent and current research projects include studies of the acquisition and loss of volatiles during planetary formation, interactions between volatiles and redox processes in magma oceans, Fe3+ partitioning during basalt formation, redox processes in Martian magmatism, and the incorporation of hydrogen in lunar materials. His work employs experimental devices and analytical tools such as electron microprobe, FTIR, SIMS, XANES, Mossbauer spectroscopy, EBSD, and LA-ICP-MS. Hirschmann is also involved in undergraduate research opportunities in planetary science.

Research topics

• Astrobiology
• Geology
• Physics
• Computer Security
• Chemistry
• Astronomy
• Computer Science
• Sociology
• Social Science
• Psychoanalysis

Selected publications

• Earth’s carbon deficit caused by early loss through irreversible sublimation

  Science Advances · 2021 · 70 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Carbon is an essential element for life, but its behavior during Earth's accretion is not well understood. Carbonaceous grains in meteoritic and cometary materials suggest that irreversible sublimation, and not condensation, governs carbon acquisition by terrestrial worlds. Through astronomical observations and modeling, we show that the sublimation front of carbon carriers in the solar nebula, or the soot line, moved inward quickly so that carbon-rich ingredients would be available for accretio…

  DOI

• Early volatile depletion on planetesimals inferred from C–S systematics of iron meteorite parent bodies

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2021 · 70 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  During the formation of terrestrial planets, volatile loss may occur through nebular processing, planetesimal differentiation, and planetary accretion. We investigate iron meteorites as an archive of volatile loss during planetesimal processing. The carbon contents of the parent bodies of magmatic iron meteorites are reconstructed by thermodynamic modeling. Calculated solid/molten alloy partitioning of C increases greatly with liquid S concentration, and inferred parent body C concentrations ran…

  DOI

• Magma oceans, iron and chromium redox, and the origin of comparatively oxidized planetary mantles

  Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · 2022 · 57 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Iron-wüstite revisited: A revised calibration accounting for variable stoichiometry and the effects of pressure

  Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · 2021-09-01 · 38 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The deep Earth oxygen cycle: Mass balance considerations on the origin and evolution of mantle and surface oxidative reservoirs

  Earth and Planetary Science Letters · 2023-07-31 · 28 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The deep Earth oxygen cycle addresses the origin and long-term exchange of oxidized species between the mantle and exosphere and creates the geochemical context in which the interior and surface environment have evolved. The redox power of the bulk silicate Earth (BSE) can be measured in terms of its redox budget, RB, relative to a reference state of the predominant valences of redox-sensitive elements in the mantle. 82±4% (1.9±0.5 × 1023 moles) of the redox power resides in the mantle and 18±4%…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• CSEDI: Integrated Study of H2O in the mantle

  NSF · $760k · 2012–2017

• CSEDI:Collaborative Research: Experimental and SIMS investigation of H2O storage capacity of the mantle

  NSF · $211k · 2005–2007

• REU Site: Fluids in the Earth from Surface to Core

  NSF · $296k · 2003–2007

Frequent coauthors

• A. C. Withers

  University of Bayreuth

  58 shared

• Rajdeep Dasgupta

  Rice University

  31 shared

• Tetsu Kogiso

  Kyoto University

  18 shared

• Cyril Aubaud

  Université Paris Cité

  17 shared

• Edward M. Stolper

  16 shared

• M. S. Ghiorso

  OFM Research (United States)

  16 shared

• J. L. Mosenfelder

  Planetary Science Institute

  13 shared

• Avishek Rudra

  University of Minnesota

  13 shared

Similar researchers at University of Minnesota

• R. Lawrence Edwardsh-120
• William Seyfriedh-63
• Christian Teyssierh-56