Harry Y. McSween

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Unlike most geologists, Hap McSween is drawn to rocks falling from the heavens rather than to those already underfoot. For the past three decades NASA has funded his research on meteorites.  He and his students and postdocs have characterized the mineralogy, petrology, and cosmochemistry of:

• chondrites, the most common type of meteorites falling to Earth
• shergottites and nakhlites, generally accepted to be igneous rocks from Mars
• eucrites and diogenites, thought to be igneous rocks from a differentiated asteroid.

This research also involves spectroscopic measurements and computer models of asteroid thermal evolution.  McSween is a co-investigator for the Mars Odyssey spacecraft mission, which is mapping the mineralogy and chemistry of the Martian surface from orbit, the Mars Exploration Rovers which are analyzing rocks and soils at two landing sites, and the Dawn spacecraft mission, which is scheduled to arrive at and map asteroid 4 Vesta in 2011, and subsequently to visit asteroid 1 Ceres.

Recent Publications

Squyres S. W., plus 53 coauthors including H. Y. McSween (2006) Overview of the Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover mission to Meridiani Planum: Eagle crater to Purgatory ripple.  J. Geophys. Res. 111, E12S12, doi:10.1029/2006JE002771.

Usui T. and H. Y. McSween (2007) Geochemistry of 4 Vesta based on HED meteorites: Prospective study for interpretation of gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer data for the Dawn mission.  Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 42, 255-269.

McSween H. Y. (2008) Martian meteorites as crustal samples. In The Martian Surface: Composition, Mineralogy, and Physical Properties, J. F. Bell III editor, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 383-396.

McSween H. Y., S. W. Ruff, R. V. Morris, R. Gellert, G. Klingelhoefer, R. P. Christensen, T. J. McCoy, A. Ghosh, J. M. Moersch, B. A. Cohen, A. D. Rogers, C. Schroeder, S. W. Squyres, and A. Yen (2008) Mineralogy of volcanic rocks in Gusev crater, Mars: Reconciling Mossbauer, Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer, and Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer spectra.  J. Geophys. Res. 113, E06S04, doi:10.1029/2007JE002970.

Usui T., H. Y. McSween, and C. Floss (2008) Petrogenesis of olivine-phyric shergottite Yamato 980459, revisited.  Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 72, 1711-1730, doi:10.1016/j gca 2008.01.011.

McSween H. Y., G. J. Taylor and M. B. Wyatt (2009) Elemental composition of the Martian crust.  Science 324, 736-739.

Mayne R. G., H. Y. McSween, T. J. McCoy and A. Gale (2009) Petrology of the unbrecciated eucrites.  Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 73, 794-819.

Contact Information

Harry Y. McSween
Chancellor’s Professor
Distinguished Professor of Science
Planetary Geoscience

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
1412 Circle Drive
Knoxville, TN 37996-1410

Phone: (865) 974-9805
Email: mcsween@utk.edu