Environmental Mineralogy and Volcanology

My PhD thesis focuses on the study of the chemical and mineralogical nature and the formation mechanisms of volcanic aerosol particles. Such dispersions of solid, liquid or mixed solid/liquid particles in the air are emitted at fumarolic or magmatic vents during eruptions and affect, among others, the climate (ex. acidic sulfate particles from Mt. Pinatubo in 1991), human health (ex. crystalline silica particles from Soufriere Hills since 1995) and economy (ex. silicate particles from Eyjafjallajökull in 2010).

The main interest of my work are PM10 secondary particles directly forming from magmatic gases and emitted in the troposphere during continuous quiescent degassing (ex. Vulcano) or persistent moderate explosive activity (ex. Stromboli). They are characterized automatically and manually by single particle analysis using CCSEM/EDX and manually using TEM. The resulting particle types are then compared to mineralogies predicted to occur at the observed field conditions by thermochemical modelling using HSC chemistry (Outotec).