David W. Muenow
Professor
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Department of Chemistry
2545 The Mall, Honolulu,
HI 96822-2275
Phone: (808) 956-7666
Fax: (808) 956-5908
Email: muenow@gold.chem.hawaii.edu
David Muenow received his B.A. from Carleton College in 1961, his Ph.D. from Purdue University in 1967, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Rice University from 1967 to 1970. He joined the faculty at Hawaii in 1970 where his research interests lie principally in geochemistry.
Our research efforts are directed to the study of the character and abundance of volatiles in silicates and other materials of geochemical importance. Included among these are submarine and subaerial volcanic rocks and their included phenocrysts, meteorites, mantle-derived minerals, and synthetic high-pressure glasses. A principal result of this effort has been to obtain previously unavailable data which has led to a better understanding of sub-seafloor magmatic processes and volatile degassing and retention mechanisms in rocks. Abundances of volatiles (e. g., H2O, CO2, Cl) are obtained with a computer- interfaced high-temperature mass spectrometer which is capable of degassing samples up to 1300*C. Its basic function is the production of a molecular beam representative of the volatiles released from a heated sample and their quantitative mass analysis as a function of time and temperature. We also employ infrared and micro-Raman spectroscopy to study the siting and speciation of selected volatiles. For example, water is found to be incorporated in volcanic glasses both as molecular (H2O) water and hydroxyl (OH-) water bound as complexes with various cations.
Representative Publications
- "Volatile abundances and genetic relationships among submarine basalts from the Woodlark Basin, Southwest Pacific." Muenow, D.W., Perfit, M.R. and Aggrey, K.E. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 55, 2231-2239. (1991)
- "The effect of bulk composition on the speciation of water in submarine volcanic glasses." Pandya, N., Muenow, D.W. and Sharma, K. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 56, 1875-1883. (1992)
- "High temperature mass spectrometric degassing of enstatite chondrites: implications for pyroclastic volcanism on the aubrite parent body." Muenow, D.W., Keil, K. and Wilson, L.Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 56, 4267- 4280. (1992)