Francis M. McCubbin

Research Assistant Professor, Senior Research Scientist III (Institute of Meteoritics)

Photo: Francis M. McCubbin

High Pressure Lab Manager

Education: 
Ph.D. Stony Brook University, 2009
Email: 
fmccubbi@unm.edu
Phone: 
505-277-1607
Office: 
Northrop Hall Rm. 306C

Related Website/s

Research and Academic Interests:

My current research interests have primarily focused on determining the abundances and roles of volatiles (H2O, F, Cl, S, C) in magmatic systems within terrestrial planetary bodies, including Earth, Moon, Mars, and asteroids. This work is accomplished through a combination of experimental petrology, micro-beam sample analysis techniques, and crystal-chemical modeling of volatile-bearing mineral phases (e.g., apatite and amphibole). Additional research interests include the nature and mineralogy of the mercurian surface and its relation to magmatic processes on Mercury, habitability of the martian surface and near subsurface during the Amazonian epoch, crystallography and crystal chemistry of phosphates and their roles during igneous crystallization and hydrothermal processes, phase equilibria of martian, lunar, and terrestrial basalt compositions.

Recent Publications:

McCubbin, F.M., Smirnov, A., Nekvasil, H., Wang, J., Hauri, E., and Lindsley, D.H. (2010a) Hydrous magmatism on Mars: A source of water for the surface and subsurface during the Amazonian. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 292(1-2), 132-138.

McCubbin, F.M., Steele, A., Hauri, E.H., Nekvasil, H., Yamashita, S., and Hemley, R.J. (2010b) Nominally hydrous magmatism on the Moon. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 27(25), 11223-11228.

McCubbin, F.M., Steele, A., Nekvasil, H., Schnieders, A., Rose, T., Fries, M., Carpenter, P.K., and Jolliff, B.L. (2010c) Detection of structurally bound hydroxyl in fluorapatite from Apollo mare basalt 15058,128 using TOF-SIMS. American Mineralogist, 95(8-9), 1141-1150.

Riner, M.A., McCubbin, F.M., Lucey, P.G., Talyor, G.J., and Gillis-Davis, J.J. (2010) Mercury surface composition: Integrating petrologic modeling and remote sensing data to place constraints on FeO abundance. Icarus, 209(2), 301-313.